UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
Historicizing the Biological: Physical Data, Disease History and New World Aboriginal Peoples
Shelly Lee Kathenne Funston O
A thesis subrnitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts
History Department of History and Classics
Edmonton, Alberta Spring 2001 National Libtary Bibliothèque nationale 1+1 of-a du Canada A uisitions and Acquisi'rtions et ~~iogra~hicServices seMces bibliographiques
The author has gmnted a non- L'auteur a accordé melicence non exchisive licence allowhg the exciusive permettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distriibute or sell reproduire, pr&er, distriiuer ou copies of this thesis in micloform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de rnÎcrofiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique.
The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conseme la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts îrom it Ni la dièse M des extraits substantiels may be pUinted or otherwise de ceue-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits saru son permission. autorisation. R.G.Collingwood on obscure topics:
Their obscurity is a challenge; you will have to invent new methods for studying them. and then you will probably find that the cause of their obscurity is some defects in the methods hitherto used. When these defects have been nmoved, it will be possible to revise the generally accepted opinions .. . and to correct the erron with which those opinions are perhaps infected. In this sense, knowledge advances not 'from the known to the unknown', but €rom the 'unknown' to the luiown'.
An Autobiography (London: Oxford University Press, 1939), pg. 86. To Dr. John Foster - ïîie scholar who showed an archoeologist the joy of history Abstract
Disease has ken, and continues to be, a major factor in the political, economic and social realities of human populations. The field of Disease History is significantly different fmm that of medical history, and requires the historian to utilize non-traditional data sets to comprehend fully the biological realties of disease. In this way, the politicai, economic and social impacts of disease can be better understood,
Using the case study of the disease history of New World aboriginal peoples, this thesis will show how the use of physical data will strengthen the historian's ability to understand disease as a biological reality. The use of physical data will ultimately assist the historian to mate a better history of disease in pre- contact societies, and to place later introduced diseases within their proper contexts. Without the excellent guidance of Dr. Julian Martin, this thesis could not have been completed It is one thing to have an advisor, and quite another to work with someone who is genuinely enthusiastic about your topic - it has motivating powers beyond belief. A heardeit thanks to my examining cornmittee for making rny defense tough, but not overwhelming. To the staff of the Department of History and Classics, thank you for opening your dwrs to an archaeology undergrad, and for your encouragement and patience during my many 'side-trips' into the working world of archaeology and public history. Yes, the thesis took five years, but the experience I gained in the 'outside world' has made me a better historian. A special tribute is paid to the administrative staff of this department who, through their many kindnesses, have made it a wondemil place to work.
From the Provincial Museum of Alberta, a bouquet of pouherds to Dr. Heinz Pyszczyk for being a valuable mentor in the field of archaeology, as well as a good fiiend. It was through the good graces of Dr. Pyszczyk that 1 was able to conduct field studies in support of this thesis. The lab work for this thesis would not have been possible without the assistance of Dr. Alwynne Beaudoin. She generously provided the lab space, rnaterials, advice and good humour to see it through. Additionally, the identification of specimens and technical advice was provided by Dr. Alan Shostak of the University of Alberta, Department of Biological Sciences. Without the assistance of these three individuals, 1would still be staring blankly at a bag of dirt.
On a personai level, 1 am deeply indebted to my colleague and f'riend Celeste Josephine Unon for keeping me on track (and letting me vent) To my Mom, I'hi sorry there arent more picturrs, but Ihi sure youll enjoy it anyway. A glas of sherry might help you there. And, to Carey .. . Ultimately, if it weren't for your persistence, this would never have been cornpleted. How can 1 ever thank you for your continued motivation and for your patience with my fits and glares when you would gentiy ask "How's the thesis coming dong?". Table of Contents
METHODOUX~IES ...... 48 ARCHAEOPARAS~M~OGY:AN hTRODUCIION ...... 51 ARCHAEOPARAS~~OLDGICALDATA FROM COPRO= ...... 54 ARCHAEOPARANTOUX;ICALDATA FROM SOUS...... 57 PALAEOPATHOLOC~Y...... 58 PARASRO~~GICALDATA FROM S KE~ETALREMAINS ...... 59 PARAS~LXX~ICALDATAFROM MUMMIES...... 60 CONCLUSION...... 61
FUTURE DIRE~ONSEOR RESEARCH...... 69
APPENDIX '9'' .ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVLDENCE OF SOME DISEASES IN PRE- COLUMBIAN ABORIGINAL POPULATIONS ------.rnmWo----*-o 84 Chapter One A Prescription for Disease History
What is the domain of history? 1s it that collection of information found in the documentary record? Does history exclude other data that relates to the pst? Oral historians have argued successfully that data other than the written record is a valid form of testimony, yet even this move away from the documentary record leaves the study of history, in practise, lirnited to the study of words. To restrict history to the analysis of the written and spoken word is to consüain historical enquiry artificially. It is not my intention to debate the definition of 'history'. Joyce McKay has argued that defining 'history' is as problematic as defining 'freedom' or 'democracy', and 1 agree.' My work seeks instead to broaden the scope of historical enquiry by showing the need to use physical data in certain fields of study. Histonans and archaeologists both seek meaning about the past - it is only their data sources that differ. Historians make their interpretations from words, while archaeologists and physical anthropologists find meaning in the physical remains of past humans and their cultures. These disciplines usually examine different aspects of the past and only rarely are there blending or overlapping of the methods and techniques. Interdisciplinarity does occw historical archaeologists, when examining post-contact era sites, use documentary data to help interpret featuns and artifacts. The reverse, however, rarely happens: histonans do not generally use physical data to support observations recorded in documents. There remains a need for such interdisciplhary work in order to improve our understanding of many facets of the pst. An example of this interdisciplhary work is Disease history, specifically the understanding of disease in New World aboriginal cultures. This thesis demonstrates how the use of biological data, in the form of archaeological and physical anthropological information, may aid the historian in constructing the disease history of New World aboriginal peoples.
1 Joyce Mcby, The Coalesmce of Hiktory and Archaeology" Historical Archaeology Vol.10 (1976)' p. 93. 1 The source of disease information most comrnonly used by historians is documents. Such items can relate symptoms and illness, which is an individual recorder's interpretation of an experience of disease. They often cannot provide reliable data of disease itself. Sometimes only p hysical evidence, recovered by archaeological or physical anthropological investigations, cm do that. But historians remah separated fiom these fields and £kmthe data used in them. The separation between the disciplines is arbitrary (albeit cornmon enough) and the failure of these disciplines to cornmunicate has impoverished our knowledge of the disease history of aboriginal peoples. To address disease history adequately, a reconciliation of the disciplines is necessary. The result would benefit several fields of inquiry at one and the same time.
As interpreted fiom the documentary record, history is based less on facts or evenfs per se, than on thoughts recorded about them2 As such, this fonn of 'history' is based not upon tangible evidence, but upon statements which have been filtered both through the culture and mind of the recorder and of the historian. This presents a problem when one wishes to create a history of facts or events that were not recorded. In the case of disease history, the original author of documents may not have had the ability nor the knowledge to represent disease accurately with words. Where no documents were created, the historian faces the greatest challenge. Here, the despairing historian tends to tum a blind eye to the topic, assuming it to be outside the domain of history. The disease history of New World aboriginal peoples seems to fa11 both within and without the domain of history. Where documents exist, even if written by outsiders, historians have anaiyzed the effects of introduced, idectious epidemic disease. Where the documents were not created, as in the case of pre-Columbian peoples, historians have absented themselves fiom the on-going research. This, however, is precisely the area where the skills of historians are most needed. As this thesis will demonstrate, there is indeed a role for historîans in this discourse, namely in
' McKay, The Coalacence of History and Archaeology" Hiswical Archaeology VoLlO (I976), p. 93. Aiso see RG.Collingwood (1939). 2 giving cultural meaning to biological data. If ethnological knowledge is a product of what the subject wmts to tell, as Michael Bravo has stated persuasively, then the use of archaeological and anthropological data is doubly important in disease history because it has the potential to reveal what is not spoken or recorded..' A history may thus be created that is not based solely upon the documentary traces of thoughts but on empirical evidence of disease.
'Disease history' is not the sarne as medical history. In considering a logical place for a discourse of disease, it appean that while disease certainly appears in histoncal studies, there is also a need for it to be considered as a subject in and of itself. Mention of disease, of course, has been made in traditional histories. In political and economic texts, it is noted as a disruptive factor and in social histones it appears, more of'ten than not, as an instrument of guilt and oppression. Yet it is sidelined; disease is considered only in reference to what it destroys or disables. No clear discussion has yet been made in Canadian historiography about disease as a persistent biological reality. Truly, a disease is only as important as we think it is, and this importance is generally judged on how it affects the social, cultural, political and economic institutions. Diseases have the power to affect al1 of these advenely, in addition to disabling individuals and decimating populations. As such, it is a key factor in al1 areas of history, and deserves therefore to be considered in al1 fields of historical research. A separate area of study is needed, however, one which examines disease fiom a biological perspective so that the physical basis may first be understood. Only then can a thorough discourse be offered about the cultural impact of disease. Understanding this biological reality assists the historîan both to examine the cultural impacts and to remove the default modes of interpretation that have clouded the issue of disease in history. Heavily reliant upon documentary data, Canadian and Native histonography have been weakened by preconceived ideas about the disease
' Michael Bravo, "Etùnological Encounters" in N. Jardine, J.A. Secord and E. Spary (eh.), Cultures of Namral Histoty (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 351. 3 history of New World aboriginal peoples. These notions rely heavily on issues of blame and guilt.
Early hidies in Canadian history largely ignored the role of aboriginal peoples, and also ignored the dmatic effects of disease upon these peoples. This is a reflection of the racial and cultural prejudices of many early historians who allowed their presentist values to cloud their interpretation of the pst. Aboriginal peoples, viewed in many ways as an organic part of the landscape, were not much examined as agents in the formation of Canadian history, nor were the effects of disease upon populations and cultures much noted. As we shall see (in a review of the literature in Chapter Two), disease is only mentioned when it prevented the aboriginal peoples from conducting business with the fur trading companies. In modem Canadian historiography, the default interpretation is that aboriginal peoples were affected only by introduced, infectious epidernic disease. Of the diseases that these historians have studied, smallpox has received the most attention. Discussion is typically made of the effects of smallpox on population size and distribution of aboriginal peoples, often with some analysis of the social and culturai effects of this infectious disease. But no mention is made of endernic or chronic disease and little attempt is made to undentand the pre-contact state of health of aboriginal peoples. The predilection towards the study of introduced disease appears to be based on a number of factors. Because of their catastrophic effect on aboriginal societies, these diseases are more likely to appear in the documentary record, a fact that makes them likely candidates for traditional histoncal study. But there may be another reason that historians have focused their attention on these diseases to the exclusion of indigenous diseases. Introduced epidemic diseases, like the subject of imperialimi, have more emotional volatility aîtached to them? Diseases, seen as an invisible agent of
-- - 4 The term 'introduced diiease' is used in this thesis to indicate diseases that were brought to the New World Corn the Old in the post-contact @od. Historiaas, as we shall see, have often referred to these as 'European diseases', a terni whicb is value-laden and potentidIy incorrect. 4 empire and even referred to as "biological imperialism",' are lumped together with al1 things Nitroduced, and spoken of with the same language. Edward Said commented that b'post-imperialism has permitted mainiy a cultural discourse of suspicion on the part of formerly colonized people'b and this discourse may well desctibe much contemporary Canadian and Native historiography.
In the field of Native history, the default interpretation follows that of Canadian history more generally, but it also supports the premise that aboriginal peoples lived in a "pristine, disease-fiee, pre-Columbian New ~orld."' Any diseases suffered by aboriginal peoples are considered to be introduced diseases. These diseases, moreover, are al1 labeled "European', ignoring those illnesses that originated in Afnca and Asia, many of which undoubtedly were carried to the New World during the slave trade and other penods of forced migration or willing immigration. This type of blame in Native history has resulted in what Said describes as "polarization that absolves and forgives ignorance and demagogy more than it enables kn~wled~e."~This ignorance relies upon misinterpretation and misunderstandings of the biological characteristics of disease and its process. Bruce Trigger has suggested that the dichotomy between history and anthropology has led to these mis~nderstandin~s?The default interpretations present in Canadian and Native historiography have proved this point - the enors and omissions leading to the creation and penistence of the default interpretations exist only because historians have not chosen to seek out the physical evidence that proves otherwise. This is, as mentioned above, a by- product of a preference for documentary data, yet it also appean to be a bias in
Andrew Nikifonik, The Fourth Honeman: a short hirtory ofplagues, scourges and emerging vimes (Toronto: Penguin Books, 199 f ). 6 Edward Said, "Discrqant Experiences", in his Culture and Imperiaih (New York: Random House, 1993). p. 194. 7 Arîhur C. Aufderheide, '3ummary on Disease before and derContact", in John W. Verano and Dougias H. Ubelaker (eds.), Disease and Demography in the Amen'cm (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992), p. 165. 'Said, "Discrepant Expencnces" in Culture and Imperialh (1993), pp. 3 1-32. Bruce Trigger, Natives and Newcamers: Conada 's 'HeroicAge ' Reconridered (Kingston and Montreal: McGill Queens University Press, 1985). See pages 27-28 below. 5 favour of the discourse of epidemic disease. It is easier to fi11 pages with dramatic events (and with blame and guilt) than to present an argument about the transmission and effects of disease. History, however, must not be agenda-driven. It must be recognized in our historical narratives that diseases are biologicai processes that do not choose their victirns based on colour or creed. Europeans, for exarnple, can be held no more responsible for transmitting disease than for unwittingly bringing the seeds of the dandelion to the New ~orld."To argue otherwise is to ignore the fact that disease is a natural process, and one that is often beyond the control of its hapless vectors.
To consider disease unnatural is to unwittingly support the ideas of blame and guilt. The root notion is that if a 'natural' state is disrupted, then someone or something 'unnatural' caused it. This is a theme which is found both in Canadian and Native historiography. Europeans, as vectoa, are held to be the guilty parties in the spread of disease, and these diseases are believed to have created unnatural physical and social responses among their hapless victims." While the impacts of introduced diseases were indeed profound and the cuItural responses to hem unprecedented, the biological reality of disease transmission is in no way unnatural. Disease, from the biomedical perspective, is a deviation fiom clinical nom; it is productive of an organic pathology or abnormality in its host. While it produces an abnomol state in the human body, it is by no means an unnatural state nor is it an extraordinary statistical event. These are distinctions that have apparently been lost in the field of history. Because it is a biological process,
'O Alfnd Crosby's discussion of Uitmduced weeds is in many ways a metaphor for the introduction of disease. Both are considercd 'pathogens', which spread rapidly and tend to outcompete or Ici11 off indigenous species. Crosby's analysis is fke of ideas of b1ame. as he recognizes the nadtendency for biological entities to spread and multiply. This applies as muc6 to a virus as it does to a plant See Aihd W. Crosby, "Weeds", in his Ecologkul hperialism: nie Biological Erpumion of Europe. 9900-1900 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986) 149. pi Sre Georges Sioui, For An Amerindian Autohktory: un may on thefiundatiom ofi sociàl etlüc, foreword by Bruce Tigga (Monmal: McGilI - Queen's University Press, 1992) and page 3 1 below, where Sioui claims that Eirmpeans were living in an unnatural state, and t&usbrought tbe 'punishment' of di-e upoa themselves. This, of course, rejects the idea that disease is a natural proces, and also ignores the fact that aboriginal peoples had disease before contact. 6 disease is a nahual and normative part of dl lifecycles. Diseases have always been present in aboriginal societies.
If it accepted that disease is natural, then it must be agreed that the 'vugin-soil' characteristics of introduced epidemics were hdarnentally naturai as well. Whenever and wherever biological boundaries have been crossed, disease has followed. Introduced into a population with no acquired immunity, uifectious disease may become a 'virgin-soil' epidemic, characterized by high morbidity and mortality rates. Smallpox is merely one example of the 'virgin-soil' epidemics experienced around the world. This type of event was not restricted to the contact period in the New World. Wherever different populations have interacted across physical or cultural boundaries, the introduction of disease has occuned. This is not an intentional by-product of culture-contact, but neither is it an umatural one. The same situation occun amongst plants and animals and it undencores the point that it is a fully natural and statistically - cornmonplace phenomenon.'2
To rernove the cultural issues of blame and guilt and to undentand disease as a natural process, one must first approach the study of this issue biologically. This biological examination can lead the histonan to the study of archaeological and physical anthropological data, where physical evidence of disease from past populations may be recovered. Here, the data is both empincal and quantitative, and the historian may use it to support or refute documented ideas about morbidity and mortality amongst aboriginal populations. The literature review in Chapter Two illustrates the omissions common in Canadian and Native historiography, and justifies the argument that we should be prepared to look beyond the documentary record for data. The most important contribution made through the use of physical evidence is the way it assists the historian to destabilize the preconceived ideas about disease commonly found in the historiography. The few historïans who have attempted to conduct studies in
'*See for instance bovine spongi==rmrncephalitk (mad cow) disease, or Dutch ehdis- 7 disease history have pointed to the potential of archaeological and physical anthropological data, but neither they nor their colleagues have made the leap to actually exploiting these sources. Historians have tended to restrict their anaiysis to the introduced, infectious epidemic disease, with no discussion of chronic disease. Little consideration is given in the current literatwe to the pre-contact health of abonginal peoples in the New World. But it makes no sense to try to understand the effects and impact of introduced disease without first having a clear understanding of the prior state of health. Aside nom some educated gesses and vague generalizations, historians have not provided solid evidence of disease in pre-Columbian populations. This is not due to a lack of information but rather (on the one hand) to the pervasive belief that this issue lies outside the domain of history and (on the other hand) to a lack of understanding of how physical data may provide insights to this historical problem. As a result, this type of data has been undervalued and under used by historians.
The act of interpreting physical data is the most important role that historians can play in understanding disease in aboriginal populations. As Chapter Three suggests, the interpretive work done by archaeologists and physical anthropologists has not been recognized by historians as appropriate for their work" The physical evidence of disease is often presented as raw data and relegated to the appendices of field reports. It is there for the historian to use and to interpret. Interpretation is the strength of the historian, who derives meaning from words, and who can do so with physical evidence of disease if an appropriate paradigrn shift can be made in what is seen as constituting the evidentiary raw resources of the discipline.
I3 This is not to say that interpreîation is not a part of archaeology or physical anthropology, only that interpretation % usually restricted to identification of the object or disease. Archaeologkts and physical anthpologists have tended to remove themselves hmdiscussion of 'meaning', clairning that nilhaal and temporal ciifferences between thanselves and their abjects of study render any meaning they would ammpt to give m an object les meaninfi. As a resuit, most field nscarch and published works are ümited to the movery and morphological identification of cemains and quantitative analysis and comparison, with les attention paid to gMng these cemains meaning within a broader context 8 Historians of disease must become proficient in the use of physical data. For a historian to anaiyze disease biologically, he or she mut first examine its defining characteristics - whether it is a virus, bacteria, protozoan or parasite, how it is transmitted, how it is expressed in the human body, and other particulars. Usually, a scholar of history has no formal training in the natural sciences beyond an introductory course or two taken to satisQ undergraduate program requirements. Little background in needed, however, if the historian is willing to leam the basics of biology and palaeopathology, and to consult with researchen trained in the field of archaeology, physical anthropology and biomedical studies. One need not be a physician to undentand the effects and processes of disease upon the human body -one need only to consult an expert. The advantage for the historian is that professionals in other fields are intrigued by the discussion of disease in past populations, and are usually thrilled to assist the historian to interpret the data to find meaning. Chapter Four gives greater detail on the steps that may be taken by the historian to gain a working understanding of disease and to glean an ability to incorporate physical data in studies of disease history.
If the historian of disease can make this paradigm shift and can use physical data as part of an interdisciplinary study of disease in pst populations, not only will the individual work be stronger but the discipline will benefit. The result of an acceptance of alternate data sets would be integrated, holistic studies, based on a wider range of information. The divenity of information thus available could only improve the historîan's ability to make meaningfbl discourse of the presence of disease in past populations, and to explore the physical and cultural impacts of such diseases. This thesis aims to demonstrate how this may be done, and it uses the case of aboriginal disease history as a particular example. A literatwe review of Canadian and Native history will show how haditional documentary-based midies have not touched upon the topic of the pre-contact state of health of aboriginal peoples, nor adequately addressed the issue of post-contact disease. The omissio found there justify the use of physical data. Chapter Three provides an overview of exemplary works in the fields of archaeology and 9 physical anthropology and uses the example of human parasitic disease to illustrate how this data may improve our understanding of both pre- and post- contact abonginai health. The concluding Chapter looks at how histotians might incorporate physical data hto their own studies of disease history. This thesis is, in many ways, not so much a historical study per se, as it is a prescription for how disease history should be treated and how historians, as practitioners, should position thernselves to conduct these studies. Chapter Two Bistoriography and Disease History
"l'ledead Red Men were buried by white han&. Amid it all. the trade in jh c~ntinued.'"~
Standard Canadian historical studies have a shortcorning in common, namely a reluctance to record adequately and to interpret the effects of disease on aboriginal peoples throughout time. This is not to Say that historians have not attempted this task, but that the topic has not been dealt with thoroughly, and historians have not to this point been concerned with providing a deeper understanding of al1 aspects of disease in pre and post-contact societies. An examination of the literature reveals that historians, if they have mentioned illness at all, have unnecessarily restricted their analysis to the study of introduced epidemic disease. While these diseases wrought far more drastic and irnmediate consequences upon aboriginal peoples in the New World, to study them to the exclusion of endemic and indigenous disease makes no sense. How can the efFects of introduced disease be placed in their proper contexts without having a full undentanding of what was there before? Knowledge of endemic disease is a logical and necessary prerequisite - only then can the effects of introduced epidemics be properly assessed. Without this basic knowledge, Canadian historiography, and more specifically Native historiography, is incomplete and misleading scholanhip that gives the impression - and in some cases explicitly asserts -that aboriginal peoples lived in a 'disease-free paradise' pnor to contact with Europeans.
This chapter reviews exemplary monographie work in the fields of Canadian, fur trade, and native history. It demonstrates the inadequacy of the treatment given to the topic of aboriginal peoples and disease. This chapter also demonstrates that the field of medical history, in which one might suppose to find a supenor
l4 Anhur Morton, Histoty of the Canudim Wkst to 1870-71 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1939), p. 332. 11 analysis of the subject, also fds short of providing a clear ove~ewof the state of health and disease of aboriginal peoples in the pre- and post-contact New World. Following these surveys is a discussion of the historiographical and empirical problems that presently characterize this domain of historical research.
General Studies in Canadian History The 'old school' texts which appear on nearly every required reading list for the student of Canadian history have much to recomrnend them, and they rightfully are considered classic studies. For the purposes of this thesis, Arthur Morton's History of the Canudian West to 1870-71 and Empire of the St. Lawrence by Donald Creighton are two texts used as representative of this type of work" Examined through the eyes of a student interested in the experience of disease, however, these studies are riddled with erron and omissions. Further, these works are highly biased towards the type of information that can be retrieved fkom the documentary record, specifically the written material of the Hudson's Bay Company. This type of source, however, is not the best for uncovering a clear picture of the disease experience of aboriginal peoples, as we shall see. In fact, studies based on documentary data are limited in what they rnay speak to regarding disease in history. In order to identiQ what these studies lack and how they may be improved upon, it is important that we undentand what they are.
The classics of Canadian historicai writing share a common structure - the past is interpreted through political and econornic means, and through a narrative structure of progress. In this Whig interpretation of history, al1 activities and actions in the past are seen as steps in the creation of a greater whole, with its
" These works were chosen 'wscientifically' by polling other graduate students who had taken undergraduate level history courses at the University of Alberta. These texts were consistentIy mentioned as remernbered hmrequired or suggested reading lists. Annotated bibliographies, hcluduig LUS and Brian Gobbet and Robert Imm's Introducing Canada: An Annotated Bibiiography of Canadian Hi;siogt in Enghh (Lanham and London: Scarecrow Press, 1W8), were abexamined for any works pertahhg to Disease history, While there references to medical history, there were no wrks found that could be classed as Disease historiography. 12 ultimate realization being the creation of the nation? Thus Alexander Mackenzie's explorations, as interpreted by Morton, take their proper sethg in the light of his aims as an exponent of a scheme of continental ~r~~tion.~~The author's interpretation is that everything cm best be explained as part of an evolution towards the present. In this style of discourse, aboriginal peoples were considered as much an organic part of the landscape as the plants and animals, and they had as liîtle agency as these.
In scope, History of the Canadian West to 1870-71 is an exhaustive work and it has, at its centre, the role of the fur trade in the creation of the Western region within the nation. Morton considered aboriginal people to be little more than a part of the environment, and they appear in his study to hinder, rather than assist, in the creation of the region and nation. When they are not a part of the background, they are presented as backward, cultumlly - static peoples, who had a very minor 'walk-on' role in the grand story. The role of aboriginal people in the fur trade was largely ignored in History of the Canadian West to 1870-71. Morton either did not seek out documentary data of aboriginal involvement or he chose to ignore it. This would seem the only way to explain the apparent unfamiliarity with the documentary record that lie behind remarks such as this one: "Hence these happy relations between the Cree and Whites which have meant that but Iinle mention is made of these interesting Indians in the pages of those who have written books and joumals".'* Morton clearly was not familiar with the body of primary historical documents in which the roles of the Cree and other aboriginal peoples were recorded.
While omission is one sort of error, Morton's view of disease and aboriginal peoples is another. On the occasions that Morton brings up the issue of disease, he refers exclusively to smallpox, which was an introduced, Uifectious, disease. It
16 See Herbert Butterfield, ne Whig Interpretution of Hbty(London: Bell Publishing, 193 1). " Morton, Kirtory of the Conadion Watto 1870-71 (1939), p. xviii. " Ibid., p. 7. 13 clear that he lacked a basic understanding of the causes of disease generally and, specifically, the consequences of the introduced infectious diseases for which the New World was 'virgin soil'. In questionhg why Europeans did not catch the diseases that killed whole tnies of aboriginal peoples, Morton displays not only an ignorance of disease, but also hints that he may have shared the attitude that many early Eurocanadians had. The view that Indians fell victim to disease because they were physically inferior, and the associated view that their deaths fkom diseases that left Europeans untouched was a sign of their moral and spiritual inferiority, was comrnonly held by eighteenth and nineteenth century Eurocanadians and contemporary historians.lg Morton also makes statements such as: "The infection was brought fiom the south by the Salteux - who are said to have attacked whites in Amencan temtory stricken with it, and to have become victims themselves by wearing their cl~thes".'~ This may be interpreted as implying that aboriginal peoples deserved the diseases that they acquired. It is ironic that Morton chose to use this bit of information, as it contradicts his notion that only aboriginal peoples fell victim to smallpox and other introduced diseases. Rem* like these demonstrate that Morton did not undentand the etiology of disease, nor was he interested in explonng the role that aboriginal people played in Canadian history, nor was he sympathetic to the aboriginal experience of disease.
Donald Creighton's Empire of the St. Lawrence is in the same vein as Morton's work. In the preface he states that the book (originally titled "The Commercial Empire of the St. Lawrence") "is a study in commerce and politics"? His book is structured as a nation-state building story, emphasizing the political and economic themes and episodes that characterize the early classic texts in Canadian
l9 Thst aboriginal populations amund the world were ''thinnecin lent credence to the view that God was clcaring the way through pagan lands for Christian settlement, another belief popular wirh bath settlers and early writets. Sce Sheldon Watt, Epidemics and History= Disease, Power and Imperialism (1 997). Morton, Histoty of the Canadian West to 187û-71, p. 329. " Donald Creighton, Empire of the St. Lmvrence (Toronto: Macmillan Company OC Canada, 1956). p. i. 14 histonography. The St. Lawrence River, as a symbol of the various structures and infiastructures of the fledgling country, is seen by Creighton as the basis of a c'transcontinental,est-west system, both commercial and politicai in character"? Within this system, aboriginal people, according to Creighton, played but a minor role. Called the "troublesome poor relations of the Canadian state" or "primitive hunting races"24, aboriginal peoples are noted only in reference to European or Eurocanadian activities, particularly when they hindered trade or 'massacred' whites. He did give credit to the aboriginal people, who, through the cunning adjustments of their heritage, and something of their proud passionate independence, helped, in their tum, to create that curious western world of half-tones, that blent society where Europe and America met and mingled?
Creighton, in this ancestor to Richard White's "Middle Ground" hypothesis (discussed below) makes no discussion of disease, introduced or otherwise. This seerns odd, as surely it was a factor for or against the ambitions, programmes and struggles which had their central inspiration in the St. Lawrence river? This is typical of this early texts in Canadian history: it coven the political and economic aspects of the past, but as Gitlin has noted of this style of historical narrative, "It makes a darnn good story, but it's not the whole ~tory".~~
Fur Trade Studies In the early works of fur trade scholarship, aboriginal peoples, as in the more general studies noted above, were very much backgrounded in the great epic as part of the scenery or as colourful, but static, cultural gmups. As an object of historical enquiry, the fur trade was defmed within political and economic parameters, and as an institution it was viewed by historians as providing the base for the modem Canadian nation. These texts, like the preceding two, relied
* Creighton, Empire of the St. Lawrence (1 SM), p. iii. ') ibid, p. 32. 24 Ibid., p. 16. 2~ Ibid., p. 16. " Ibid., p. i. heavily on the written record to the exclusion of other sources. Aboriginal peoples were again given litîle agency. It is not unexpected, then, that there is very little in-depth analysis of disease in early fur trade monographs. Generally, one only finds mention of illnesses among the Native peoples when disease prevented them fiom carrying out hunting or trade, or when the epidernic reached such proportion as to be considered remarkable. The fmt two texts mentioned below, by Harold Innis and E.E. Rich, may be considered with Morton and Creighton's works as standards of Canadian history. Al1 four share the same preoccupation with the economic and political aspects of history and betray a similar lack of regard for the abonginal experience and for the effects of disease in the fur trade. A third monograph, by Arthur J. Ray, represents a change in the scope and methodology of fur trade studies. Here, the role and experience of aboriginal peoples is more thoroughly examined.
Harold Innis' The Fur Trade in Canada is subtitled An Inlrodtiction to Canadian Economic History. The title sums up the approach taken by pioneering studies in fur trade history - the fur trade was defined as an economic institution and as the basic infrastructure upon which modem Canada rested. Innis believed that understanding the fin trade was a basic nquirement for understanding Canadian history as a whole. It was his sense, then, that history has at its centre politics and economics. His text is the definitive political and economic history fiom the formative years of fur trade studies, and it was one of the founding works of the "Laurentian Schooi", which hypothesized that a combination of geographic and economic determinism played a major role in shaping the history of the nation.
Tlie Fur Trade in Canada exhaustively details nearly al1 aspects of the economic trade - fiom north to south, east to West, fiom the fiontier period through the industrial revolution and into the twentieth century. Still, it misses a substantial
n Jay Gih, "On the Boundanes of Empire", in William Cranon et al (eds.), Wnder An Opon Sky= Rethinking America 's Western Pest (New York: W.W. Norton, 1992), p. 80. 16 amount of information: there is no discussion of the role of aboriginal peoples.
Harold Innis has been described as placing Indian culture at the centre of the fur trade.. .. He clearly appreciated the important role that Indians had played in this trade. Yet he paid little attention to the Indian end of it. He ignored cultural differences and social organization as factors shaping the role played by native gro~~s?~
In fact, he plays littIe attention to aboriginal peoples at dl. In considering disease and its effects on aboriginal peoples, Innis refers only to smallpox and its spread between tribes. He makes no attempt to discuss the consequences of this introduced infectious disease, beyond saying that it was a disruption to the inhtnicture of the trade. No mention is made of any other disease, whether introduced or endemic to aboriginal peoples before contact. Tbis is another pattern which persists in later fur trade studies -smallpox is the only disease that consistently gets attention fiom historians, as if its drastic consequencec and highly infectious nature have made it more fit for study. To be fair, it is Iikely that this disease receives more attention in the historical literature exactly because it received more notice in the documentary record. Historians, trained to privilege this type of source, then overlooked other relevant data. In any case, smallpox has remained until very recently the one disease that has received substantial attention by historians.
E.E. Rich's 1967 text nie Fur Trade and the Northwest to 1857 follows many of the patterns set by Innis. In Rich's work, aboriginal peoples are relegated to a chapter entitled 'The Northwest: The Geographical background", and are considered to be as much a part of the terrain as the plants and rocks. When discussed mer, the aboriginal peoples have been given no agency, and remain in this text only as economic variables, sidelined by conhast with the actions of Eurocanadians. Consider the index in Rich's book, where one fin& that references to "Indians" are specificaily: "British policy towards', "truding habits"
" Tngga, Natives and Newcomers (1985)- p. 38. 17 and "missions tu". Again, this is not the kind of study in which one can expect a clear picture of the effects and issues of disease amongst aboriginal peoples. Like Innis, Rich refers only to smallpox, and only when it is seen to disrupt tracle. In fact, his brief section on this illness is almost a repeat of page 329 of Morton's book, but without the implications that aboriginal peoples deserved the illness they were transmitted.
In nie Fur Trade and the Northwest tu 1857, Rich lets the reader know that, in his view written history is a product of the documents available to the historiadg This is a clear indication that Rich, like other contemporary histonans, did not attempt to utilize any interdisciplinary methods or sources of data. This is one of the tme weaknesses of the older works - the inability to look beyond the documentary record. It is for this reason, ignoring the archaeological and ethnographic evidence that was surely available in the mid-1960s, that Rich was able to &te of the "advance of human settlement into the empty spaces of the North American ~ontinent"?~An historian utilizing al1 available resources to examine the past would not have been able to make a statement that blatantly ignored the aboriginal peoples who lived on the land. The fact that historians have been so reluctant to look beyond the documentary record means that works based solely on the written record do not provide a satisfactory discourse of disease. Without the use of non-documentary resources, there is little data available with which to make a conclusive argument - or any argument at all.
Arthur J. Ray's Indianr in the Fur Trade: their role as troppers, hunters, and middlemen in the lands southwest of Hudson Bay, 1660-187d' represents a dramatic shift in perspective fiom the works reviewed above. Rather than briefly
- 29 E.E. Rich, The Fur Tmde and the Nonhwest to 1857 (Toronto: McClefland and Stewart Limited, f 967), p. xi. Rich, The Fur Trade and the Northwest to 1857 (1967), p. ii. This statement could aiso be seen as refdg to the depopulation of the continent through introduced uifectious dkase, a fact which would have by no means lefi Canada "ernptyn, but more sparsely populated than in pre- contact times. This is not an avenue Rich explores. mentioning abonginal people in reference to Eurocanadian activities, Ray took a bold step and analyzed the responses of aboriginal peoples and their roles in the trade. As a historical geographer, he has much to Say about the demographic changes of aboriginal peoples, and he notes the role of disease in these changes. Chapter Five of Indh in the Fur Trode, entitled "Migrations, Epidemics and Population Change", referred to the impact of introduced infectious disease. He thoroughly examined the demographic changes wrought by three successive smallpox epidemics3*on the plains, and he included statistical evidence through the use of death tolls. Ray also provided one example of an abonginal response to smallpox, which attempted treatment by jumping into cold water, a therapy said to have disastrous con~e~uences.)'This statement is intriguing for it suggests that some data on the aboriginal view of disease and of healing exists in the documentary record, if historians choose to look. Another strength of Ray's study is that he moved beyond the typical discussion of smallpox to note the devastating effects of two other introduced infectious diseases, measles and whooping cough. However, Ray provided no information on the base level of disease and illness within aboriginal societies before contact. Relying as he has on documentay data, it is unlikely that he could have provided this information without an interdisciplinary examination of the problem.
Fur Trade Social History If political and economic histones lack an adequate discussion of disease, it might be presurned that the paradigms of social history would allow for a better analysis of the cause and effect of illness. Since social historians focus on the social and cultural conditions of past peoples, and how these relate to the political and economic institutions, there is a greater potential for the recovery and
"~rthurJ. Ray, Indians in the Fur Trade: their deas trappers. huntm, and niddiemen in the Idsouthwest ofHudron Bay, 1660- 1870 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1974). Ray, Indium in the Fur Trade (1974). pp. 94-1 16. Ray explores the dlpoxepidemia of 1780-81.1838 and 1869 among the Assintiione. Set ais0 Arthur J. Ray, "DiBinon of Diseases in the Western interior of Canada, 1930-1850m,Geographical R&by 66, no2 (ApriI1976), pp. 139-57. In addition to smallpox, Ray ako considers the effiof influenza, scarlet fever, measles, and how trade networks assisted in the diffiision of these infectious epidemic diseases. interpretation of disease data hmthe documentary record, if such data exists. Disease impacted the political and ecoaomic inf'rastructure, social structure and the cultures of groups, thus making it an ideal candidate for study by social historians. Two of the leading texts in the field of fur trade social history, which detail the roles of both women and aboriginal peoples within the trade, were examined too see how disease is treated in this form of histoncal enquiry. Jennifer Brown's Strangers in Blood: Fur Trade Company Families in Indian Country and Many Tender Ties: Women in Fur Trade Society, I670-187U by Sylvia Van Kirk were examined for this purpose. It was hoped that the social historians of women and aboriginal peoples would have much to Say on the topic of disease, specifically about the role women played in treating ilhess and the effect disease had across the cultural boundaries. Unfortunately, these texts did not take the study of disease further than the traditional histories as noted above, suggesting that social historians have been as unlikely to make meaningful discussion of disease in past peoples as are political or economic historians.
Jemifer Brown's Strangers In Blood detailed the role of women in trade, politics and exploration, and provided a good examination of the social and 'cultural' differences between the Hudson's Bay and North West Companies. She was aware of the shortcornings of the historical record, and she noted the limitations of fur trade records. Illness and disease are minimized in this study due probably to this restricted source of data. In one of her very few references to disease, Brown noted that " the adjustment and health problems of Indians taken to Europe were generally considerable", without stating what those health problems were. 34 While aboriginal peoples taken to Europe experienced health problems, the much larger issue is the health problems of aboriginal peoples who lived and stayed in the New World. It is puzzling why Brown chose to remark on the exceptional cases and why she ignored the plight of the majority who remained in "Indian
-- - I3 Ray* Indians in the Fur Tr~tie,p. 106. Jmifcr Brown, Sirangers in Blood: Fur Trade Company Fanrilies in Indiun Country (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1980), p. 67. 20 Country". On this topic, her work is vutually silent. Brown speaks of many of the factors which played a role in the transmission of disease, such as housing, food and human relations, but she does not mention ilhess as being a result of (or a problem compounded by) these variables. In this way, the biological reality of disease is ignored.
Brown's study also chose not to explore the roles women typicdly have played as administrators of health care and medical treatment. Native or mixed-blood wives to traders presumably brought with them indigenous healing techniques, practices that would have crossed cultural boundaries. These forms of traditional healing would have been passed along to the Eurocanadian men of the fur-trading companies, and down through their descendants. The treatment of disease, especially those diseases which Eurocanadian peoples were not familiar with or were unable to treat themselves, would have made the traditional health care practices of the women of the fur trade invaluable. Brown, through her use of documentary data, is unable to shed light on this de, and in fact is unable to provide much in the way of disease data. Thus, the role of women as health care providers, as weil as the larger issues of disease, remained untouched in this study.
Sylvia Van Kirk does make mention of disease in Muny Tender T'es, although in a very limited sense. In many ways, her work raises more questions about disease transmission and healing practices than it answers. Discussion of disease in her study involves women, both in the roles of vector and victim, and in the role of preventative medicine, a fact that is not surprising given the nature of ber topic. In one of the few references to endemic illness in the historiography, Van Khk notes that women played an important role in gathering the fiesh country foods in order to ward off scurvy. One can imply hmthis statement that aboriginal peoples had expenence with this condition, as they were knowledgeable about the treatment for it. She offered, however, no Merdiscussion of the aboriginal experience and understanding of disease in general nor of endemic disease in particular. 2 1 In Many Tender Ties, Van Kirk referred to fur trade posts as "welfare stations" which provided aid to the starving and si& " Without explicitly stating so, Van Kirk referred to a physical crossroad, a place where cross-cultural and biological contacts were the nom. It was in such places that infectious disease found purchase. This concept, however, is not fully investigated in this work. Furthemore, Van Kirk, like Brown, neglected the important social role that women played as ministen of care and she does not countenance the traditional healing knowledge brought to the fur trade by aboriginal and mixed-blood women.
Neither of these texts are particularly convincing on the history of disease, on cross-cultural contacts or on the social factors involved in disease transmission and prevention. Reviews of both Brown's and Van Kirk's work suggest that their interpretations of the social history of the fur trade, of aboriginal peoples, and of women in particular, are vulnerable in many ways. Both authors have been "captive of her sources", in that both relied heavily on the documentary record of the Hudson's Bay Company to the near exclusion of other so~rces?~As these documents were produced by Eurocanadian males, it is dificult at times to make a case that the authon of such documents saw, or fully undentood, the roles of aboriginal women. For understanding a woman's role in traditional healing and medical administration, and for understanding aboriginal concepts of illness, documentary records are not the ideal source of data. Oral and physical data are better suited to answenng these questions.
Native Eustory If the classic texts of Canadian history ignore aboriginal peoples, fur trade studies only touch upon their iives, and social history provides an unsatisfjing picm of the state of health of the people, how then does Native history fare? One would
" Sylvia Van Krk, Many Te& Tiec Wonen in Fur Trade Society, 1670-1870 ( Toronto: Watson and Dwyer Printing, 1980), p. 26 [cmphasis mine]. hope that the health of aboriginal peoples, both pre- and post-contact, would be foregrounded in this type of narrative. To investigate this point, five texts have been selected as representative of the field of Native history. Two of the works considered here are basic introductory texts to the field of Native history: Olive Dickason's Canada 3 First Nations and Arthur Ray's I Have Lived Here Since the World ~e~an?'nie Middle Ground by Richard White and Natives and Newcomers: Canada S 'Heroic Age ' Reconsidered by Bruce Trigger are exemplary studies in Native history written by academics? The fifi text, by Georges Sioui, entitled For An Amerindian Atitoliistory represents the type of work that is currently being created as a reaction to traditional scholarly ~orks?~
Native history, using the methods of traditional historical enquiry, is closely tied to the discipline of anthropology, which was created in the nineteenth century and charged with studying people who lacked their own history? While this assumption is now recognized as incorrect, since aboriginal peoples do in fact possess histones, the field of Native history still borrows freely of anthropological, ethnological and oral historical methods and data. As a result, Native history may be considered more interdisciplinary than other fields of history. This should be a benefit when considenng the problems of disease in the pst, but does a review of the literature prove this to be so?
The introductory texts to the field of Native history are of great interest, for they are the types of studies that provide information to both historians and the general public. Dickason's and Ray's works are sold by mass retailers, and thus are
Cardian XiSlOrical Reviav (1983), p. 237. Whik this quote refers in pariicular to Van Kuk's work, similar criticism was made of Brown's Strangers in BImd in the CHR (1980) p. 342-343. " Olive Dickason, Canada 's Fim Nations (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1992). and Arthur J. Ray, l Hwe Lived Here Since the Worid Began (Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1996). " Richard White, Ine Middie Growtd: Indians. empires and repubfics in the Greut Lakes region. l6SO-I8lj (Cambridge: Cambridge University Rm, 199 1) and Bruce Tkigger, Natives and Navcomers (1985). 39 Georges Sioui, For An Ammndian Autohktoty: an essay on theefoundutr'ons ofa sociui ethic, foreword by Bruce Trigger (Montreal: McGill - Queen's University Ress, 1992). 'O Trigget Natives md Newcomec5, p. 5 [empbasis mine]. 23 potentidly available to al1 segments of society, including those people for whom it could be their fint or only insight into this topic. The works by White, Trigger and Sioui, on the other hand, are generally only read by individuals who aiready have an awareness of the discipline. Regardless of the background or airns of the readers, what information of aboriginal health are they receiving fiom these studies?
Canada f First Nations and 1 Have Lived Here Since the Worid Begon both provide a general historical overview of aboriginal peoples in Canada, and they both place social and cultural information within a larger political and economic context. The studies by Dickason and Ray deal with nearly al1 the cultural groups in Canada: where specific tribal groups are not mentioned, each author attempts, at the least, to treat the history of their larger cultural area. The only difference in this respect is that Ray tends to have more detail and accuracy regarding West Coast peoples. For example, Dickason stated that West Coast peoples were less affected by introduced disease than were eastem or plains peoples~'an assertion Ray refûted with estimates of the smallpox epidemic of 1862 killing as many as 20,000 West Coast aboriginal peoples? Both authors noted the catastrophic effects of smallpox upon aboriginal groups, and Dickason built upon the inventory of introduced infectious diseases by making note of influenza and tuberculosis? Here again, we see a tendency to note only incidences of disease introduced nom the Old World, while overlooking endemic, indigenous diseases.
What of endemic disease and what of disease that was present in the New World prior to contact with Europeaas? On this subject, very little is said in either kxt. Dickason, like Van Kirk, mentioned aboiginai cures for scunry, again indicating that aboriginal peoples possessed both howledge and prior experience with this
" Dickason, Canada 's First Nations (1992), p. 2 11. Ray, I Hme Lhied Here Since the World Began (1996), p. L9 1. Dicltason, Canada's Fi't Nations, p. 567. 24 illness. An intriguing piece of information in Dickason's text gives an insight into pre-contact ideas about disease causality and therapy. She stated that the Cherokee believed that disease was brought by animals and cured by plants!S While Dickason neglected to Say when this belief was held, the Cherokee were not likely to be referring to the infectious diseases introduced through contact with Europeans. Hence, this may be an indication of a pre-contact belief towards disease transmission and cure. However, there is little else in Dickason's study or in Ray's text to give the reader a better idea of the perceptions of aboriginal peoples towards disease, especially endernic and indigenous diseases. Considering the importance of healen in aboriginal societies, it is odd that no Mer consideration is given to disease and healing in these texts. This is a topic that historians have been remiss in considering - more information is needed on the aboriginal understanding and expenence of disease fiom the people who suffered them. Historians might better investigate this topic through exploiting ethnographic and oral historical data.
Richard White's nie Middle Ground: Indians, empires and republics in the Great Lakes region. 1650-1815 moves away fkorn imperialist ideas of conquest and assimilation and looks for a metaphorical 'middle ground' which White fmds physically as a world made of fragments that relied on disease, war and famine for its genesisF a point that we shall retum to. As we have seen already, the historians' discourse of fur trade era relationships between aboriginal peoples and Europeans and Eurocanadians is generally described with the language of imperialism. White, however, found this relationship to be an imperialism that weakens at the periphery. At the center are han& on the levers of power, but the cables have, in a sense, been bady byed or even cut. It is a world system in which the minor agents, allies, and even subjects at the penphery often guide the
-- - 44 Ibid., p. 168. 45 ibid., p. 43. This dosnot nippon Calvin Martin's Keepers of the Game hypothesis, in which Martin states that aboriginal poples, believhg that animais wcre raponsible for epidernic disease, embarked on a ÿvar of extinction" against ihea Bruce Trigger, in Native and Navcorners does not believe there is enough evidence to support this hypothesis. '6 White, nit Midme Ground (199 1)' p. 1. 25 course of empires. This is an odd impenalism and a complicated world systemP7
What White has described is, in reality, how European imperialism had always worked!* When White describes "an odd impenalism where mediation succeeded and force failed, where colonizen gave gifts to the colonized and patriarchal metaphon were the heart of politics'Jg, he is not describing an "odd" imperialism, but the way in which the political theory has played its self out around the world. Impenalism may be at its most dynamic and active at the periphery, in this case the physical and theoretical meeting ground between aboriginal and European cultures, rather than at the imperial metropole. This discussion of imperialism leads to the focus of White's text, namely the reiationships developed in culture- contact zones and their consequences. It should not be a surprise to White that aboriginal peoples should have adapted so well to a 'middle ground'. Aboriginal peoples, through tribal affiliations and intercultural contact, have Iived and deait with culture-contact zones for miliennia, and they have understood the potential for conflict that goes along with them.
White's previous point, bat the 'rniddle ground' was peopled with the refugees of disease, war and famine, underscores the integral role of disease in this history. In fact, it is of paramount importance, surpassing the other three in its destruction, for, "smallpox wielded a hatchet far more bloody than. any the combatants possessed."50 Yet, for such an important factor, not enough attention is given to it and no mention is made of the state of health of peoples before contact. In this study, like so many othen, the author has lirnited his analysis to the effects of introduced epidemic disease* White consciously avoids the ethnohistoricai technique of 'up-streaming', or using ethnologies of present-day or of nineteenth- century peoples to interpret aboriginal societies of the pst. While use of this
47 fiid., p. xi. Julian Martin, personal communication, Iuly 28,2000. Also see Edward Said "Discrepant Experiencts", pp, 3 1-43 and 19 1-209. Q> White, The MiMe Ground, p. 145. "fiid., p. 229. technique for cultural information may imply that aboriginal peoples were culhually static, this technique may not be flawed when examining biological variables such as disease. While many diseases do mutate and evolve, others, such as parasitic infections, appear to remain unchanged through tirne, and human responses to certain parasitic diseases may be unchanging as welLsl One rnay draw valid conclusions fiom this form of physical data and not be accused of 'up- streaming'. Hence, White is able to refer to documents that speak of 'virgin-soil' epidemics, where a new bacteria or virus was introduced to a population that had no immunity. This was a hopefil sign that historians were beginning to consider the biology of disease, a step that could lead to an improved undentanding of health issues in aboriginal societies. However, this progression did not go far enough. The fact that the index to White's text States "Disease: see Epidemics" sums it up: even when historians recognize the enonnous impact of disease on a culture, they look no Merthan the introduced infectious epidemic diseases.
Bruce Trigger, while not an historian, limits his study of disease and aboriginal peoples in much the same way as the historians discussed above, demonstrating that historians are not the only scholars to be remiss in noting base levels of illness in their discussions of post-contact introduced disease. In Natives and Newcomers: Canada's Heroic Age Reconsidered, Trigger, an archaeologist, uses interdisciplinary methods to examine the demographic collapse of aboriginal peoples. There is, Tngger believes
no problem more important for understanding the history and social organization of native American people than deterrnining the magnitude of the demographic collapse followin European rediscovery of the New World in the fifieenth century. Ji
In conducting this examination, Trigger worked with the data and methods of both anthropology and history, and he noted the pedagogicd ciifferences between the two disciplines, and a dichotomy between them, the persistence of which
" See Chapter Thm below for firrther discussion of this point. 27 "reflects the chronic failure of most Canadians to accept native peoples as being canadian"." This dichotomy is a very serious issue. The dichotomy, 1 argue in this essay, is a major reason that the problems of disease and aboriginal peoples are not fully understood. With little communication between history, anthropology and archaeology, it has never been made clear which discipline is 'responsible' for this type of analysis. Even worse, the three disciplines do not share the Monnation that they have acquired, making a holistic understanding of aboriginal disease difficult, if not impossible, to gauge.
Trigger takes the first steps towards an interdisciplinary analysis of this problem. Using archaeological and anthropological data in his historical analysis, he is able to make strong statements about the effects of disease on aboriginal peoples. He discusses the physical effects on individuals as well as the social and psychological impacts on communities. One of his most thought-provoking statements is, "the evident antiquity of these practices makes it clear that scholan should not succumb to the temptation of believing in prehistoric tirnes illness had not been prevalent or of concem to native peoples."54 mat is, Trigger notes that rnany of the native beliefs and practices relating to disease undoubtedly existed pnor to 1492, indicating that aboriginal peoples had experience with disease in the time before contact with Europeans. However, he gives no examples of data refemng to preColumbian disease, but speaks only of the views held regarding introduced epidemic disease. His case study is the cultural ideas the Huron had towards disease, and how they responded to the epidemics introduced in the post- contact penod. Epidemics, killing children and elders, broke the moral rules of Huron society, so it was obvious that they would be considered caused by an immoral source, such as witchcraft. Suspected witches were killed, and sharnanistic curing societies formed to combat the otherworldly plague?5 It is interesting to note here that Trigger begins his analysis refemng to 'introduced a Trigger, Natives and Newcomerr, p.34. " Ibid., p. 5. lbid, p. 244. disease' a terni that implies no culpability, but soon reverts to the value-laden 'European disease' used by other historians. A disease, as a biological entity, has no nationality. In fact, many diseases historians have called 'European' originated rather in Afnca or ~sia..'~ To name them European' is to assign blame according to a preconceived agenda, not simply to descnbe the ongin of a biological agent.
The responses to these biological agents may indicate that virulent epidemics such as smallpox were rare. Disease patterns to which abonginal peoples were accustomed to would not result in the Huron killing members of their own tribe or the creations of curing societies. These were the responses of a people whose population was being decimated, whose collective wisdom was being taken with the death of eldea, and whose normative means of dealing with disease did not work. The aboriginal view of disease is supported by the words of Peigan chief Saukarnappee, who stated that
this dreadful disease broke out in Our camp and spread from tent to tent as if the Bad Spirit canied it. We had no belief that one Man could give it to another, any more than a wounded man could give his wound to another?
From these two examples, it would seem that aboriginal peoples had no familiarity with the type of infectious epidemic diseases that spread through their communities after European-contact. If this is the case, what kind of diseases did pre-Columbian aboriginal peoples have? Trigger notes the problems with documentary sources, even when disease is mentioned in the post-contact period, where 'the lack of sufficiently detailed descriptions of these diseases make the precise identification of most of them impossible.n58If this is a problem for the post-contact period, it rnust be expected that knowledge for the pre-contact penod is even more di&cuIt to obtain. While Trigger mentions the use of archaeological
''Ibid, p. 245. " Smallpox has been descriibed as orighating in China, while malaria, another introduced infectious disease, is of Afkican orîgin. Morton, History ofthe Canadian West io 1870-71, p. 18. sa Trigger, Natives and Navcomen, p. 229. 29 data, he uses it only for examining the effect of introduced clisease -no mention is made of endemic or indigenous disease and no data are used to show actual evidence of disease. Thus, this work represents only the first step towards interdisciplinary studies of aboriginal disease, as it does not take the use of physical, biological data far enough in Tngger's quest for answers.
After Trigger's book, written in 1985, it would be expected that other scholars in the field of Native history would have picked up where he left off. This did not happen. In fact, in many cases, the analysis of aboriginal disease in history seemed to revert to a new low. Georges Sioui's For An Amerindian Autohistoy is an agenda-driven study in which the world of aboriginal peoples is seen as pre- contact utopia and a post-contact purgatory. Its technical purpose is to act as a cal1 for aboriginal people to become active in the creation of their own history. In spite of its good intention, the text itself fails to strengthen Native history, but weakens it instead with faulty interpretations and 'garden-oGEden' stereotypes. According to Sioui, aboriginal peoples suffered no disease, warfare nor slavery. In fact, he claims that aboriginal peoples never even enslaved animals, a statement which ignores the use of dogs and Ilamas, creatures who were unlikely to have worked of their own fiee will. This book would bave the reader believe that the only illnesses suffered by aboriginal peoples were introduced disease, and that these diseases were a reflection of the 'unnatural' characteristics of Europeans.
such an hypothesis questions the very motive for the arriva1 of Europeans in the New World; for, if Europeans had not for a very long time been largely isolated from the living forces of nature, they perhaps would not have been afnicted with the bacteria that eventually made them leave their own world?'
There are a number of blatant errors in this statement. First, Europeans were not 'forced' by bacteria to leave the Old World nor were they "isolated" nom the forces of nature any more than were the Mec inhabitants of Tenochitlan(now Mexico City), a city fat larger than any European centres of the the. In fact, contact with the "living forces of nature" was what brought Old World peoples into contact with disease in the first place -for instance the clearing of land near swamps led to malaria, and interaction with animals lead to intemal parasitic, viral and bacterial disease. From a biological standpoint, Sioui does not redise that viruses, not bactena, were the cause of the most deadly intmduced illnesses. However, a most prolific and infectious disease was introduced to the Old World 6om the New and was indeed a bacterial disease - narnely syphilis.60 That New World aboriginal peoples had such a disease does not appear to Sioui as an indication of spiritual or cultural imbalance, nor that aboriginal peoples were living 'isolated fiom the forces of nature' - in fact, he fails to mention this disease at all. Sioui has no solid understanding of disease history, and uses scant bits and pieces of data not to improve the understanding of aboriginal health, but only to place blame.
While Sioui says that it should be the 'bacteria' that is tried and found guilty, not the victim or the 'oppressor', he tries and convicts the Europeans anyway.6' Sioui ignores the fact that the probable vecton of diseases such as malaria and yellow fever were Afncan, rather than ~uro~ean.~'Biological organisms, such as disease, are used in his study to assign blame according to the author's agenda. Historians are supposed to make a concerted effort to avoid allowing persona1 bias and agenda to colour their perceptions or guide their work. Sioui clearly does not follow this basic principle of historical enquiry. His work is a political statement filled with errors and blatant misrepresentations designed to promote his Utopian Pan-Indian view of aboriginal history. This does the aboriginal community no justice, for al1 it succeeds in doing is playing into stereotypes that serve history no
- -- 59 Sioui, For An Amerindian Aulottktory (l992), p. 3n. "O Brenda I. Baker and George J. Amelagos, "The Origin and Antiquity of Syphilis" in Kiple and Beck (eds.) Bioiogr'cai Consequenfcs ofthe European Exp~~l~iotz(1997). '' Microbes have *... medthe inhabitants of the Old World into guilty parties and of the New World into victims." Ibid., pp. 45. SeSheldon Watt, Epidemics and History: Diseose, Puwer and ImpwriaIlisn (~ewHaven and London: Yale University Press, 1997), pp. 1 10-11 1, and Nikifonik, The Fuurth Homemm (1991). 31 better than the racism and exclusion of earlier studies - it is merely the other end of the same, dreary spectrum.
Disease Historiography Medical history is not the same as disease history. The term 'medical history' implies a study of the intellectual content of medical inquiries and of the medical establishment, and an examination of the social and cultural institutions of health care. 'Disease history' requires a different point of view where the histonan must first examine and understand the biological factors before determinhg how the biological has affected the social and cultural features of a society. For the purposes of this study, the term disease history will be used to describe this field of work.
Historians, unused to dealing with biological data, are still coming to tems with the paradigrn shift needed to work in this field of study. Disease has been recognized as an important factor in history, but more work has been done on its cultural aftennath than on understanding the biological basis of transmission and infection. As we have seen, historians have tended to restnct their studies to analysis of infectious epidemic disease. In the case of aboriginal history, this has been even more limited to the study of introduced infectious disease. These two points will be illustrated below, where a selection of texts shows a strong predisposition towards the study of infectious, epidemic disease. From world history to Native history, the study of epidemic disease is a common theme. AIso common are the lack of data on endemic disease and the heavy reliance on documentary data. To demonstrate these points, tex6 by Zïnsser, McNeill, and Watt are used as representative of world - wide historical overviews of disease. Studies by Boyd, Kiple and Beck, and Verano and Ubelaker show the way in which scholars have treated the disease history of aboriginal peoples.
A classic text of medical and disease history is Hans Zinsser's Rats, Lice and History. Written near the end of his career, Zinsser's text is a rarnbling, often 32 disjointed, examination of the biological factors conûibuting to the transmission of cholera, an idectious epidernic disease. It contains a few points on the nature of infectious and parasitic disease and a discussion of the social impact of epidemic disease. The importance of disease is emphasized with the clumsy, perhaps bizarre observation that, "if it were not for the fact that so many totally uninteresting people die of disease ... war would not be taken so ~enousl~.'~'
From Zinsser's study until William McNeill's 1976 Plagiles and Peoples, liale was done to study the biological entities of disease in history. More work appears to have been done on the 'great men' and institutions of medicine, while disease history remained underdeveloped. McNeill did a fine job of moving the biology of disease to the foreground while examining the effect of disease on society and culture through time. The point of his study was to record
the history of humanity's encounters with infectious diseases, and the far-reaching consequences that ensued whenever contacts across disease boundaries allowed a new infection to invade a population that lacked any acquired immunity to its ravages.@
McNeill emphasized disease as a natural biological process and removed social ideas of blame, and introduced the valuable concept of disease boundaries? While McNeill relied mainly on documentary sources, he did use some physical data. However, much of this data was fiom contemporary studies of health and disease, making direct cornparisons to the pst problematic; it may also be seen as 'up-strearning'. He acknowledged, however, that many of the assertions and suggestions in his text would remain simply that, until more epidemiological studies were completed. To this, 1 would add that more interdisciplinary studies of disease must be carried out.
" HmZinsser, Rais, Lice and Hktory (Boston: Littie, Brown and Company, 1949, p51. " WNiam McNeill, PIagues and PeopIes (Garden City, New York: Anchor Press, 1976), p. 3. " This point, which unfortunately did not seem to be bunt upon by later historians, is proposeci as a topic tequiring Merstudy - see Chapter Four below. 33 A proponent of interdisciplinary work, McNeill recognized the problems associated with the documentation of disease, specifically in the 'fat past' where ''written records were so irnperfect that the scale and significance of what happened were easy to o~erlook.'~He does not discuss the problems involved where no documents exist, such as in the case of the pre-contact New World, or in circumstances where no records were created by the subject of study, as with the early post-contact aboriginal peoples. It is for this reason that McNeill feels the use of altemate forms of data is both justified and called for, as he believed most historians to be jaded and too far removed fiom the threat of disease to tmly appreciate its ~onse~uences.6'His message to historians is simple, that "humanity's ever-changing place in the balance of nature ought to be part of our understanding of history, and no one can doubt that the role of infectious diseases in that natural balance has been and remains of key importance.'" This is as much a reference to modem diseases such as AIDS, as it to past diseases, showing the continuing struggle of humans against microbes, and making disease history a particularly relevant field of studyP9
Within PIagues and Peuples is a discussion of disease introduced to aboriginal peoples after contact. Moving beyond a discussion of "European diseases", McNeill made no attempt to use a biological organism to scribe blame, but he noted the many places where epidemic disease onginated, including Asia and Afiica. As a histonan, he was able to take data nom the documentary record and give it meaning - a case in point being the psychological impact of 'virgin-soil' epidemics, where aboriginal peoples would have been socially and cultural devastated, as well as having thek population decimated, while the Spaniards remained unaected. His arguments would have been stronger if he had used physicd data, yet McNeill demonstrated the ability of historians to give meaning
66 McNeill, Plagues adPeoples (1976), p. 3. " McNeill, Plagues and Peoples, p. 4. Ibid., p. 5. For fllrther discussion of this point see Nkiforuk, The Founh Horseman (1991). 34 to a biological process and proved that a valid discourse can take place: one in which blarne is not the issue.
On the other end of the 'blame spectnim' is Sheldon Watt's Epidemics and Histov: Diseose. Power and ~hperialism.~~This is a discussion of 'biological impenalism' and of how he believed disease acted as an agent of empire in the early contacts period around the world. This is fine blend of politics and biology, containing excellent discussion of the effects and consequences of introduced disease, but the underlying theme is one of guilt and victimization. This theme extends to modem historians, it seems, for Watt refers to historians having to "admit" to certain facts: "most epidemiologists and histonans admit that in the absence of smallpox pathogen, pre-Columbian peoples had no opportunity to develop imrnunity to the disease."" He also States that historians "reluctantiy admit" that epidemic diseases like measles and smallpox were absent from the New World before contact? Presumably, a histonan would only be reluctant to admit this fact if they felt some sense of guilt or responsibility. Watt must feel that historians are part of some greater scheme to hide the tmth or that historians are themselves members of the guilty parties.
Who are the 'guilty' parties? In Watt's book, guilt is restncted to the people he calls "the whites". A value-laden terrn, this label is as disturbing as calling aboriginal peoples "red men". Throughout the book, "the whites" are held responsible for al1 disease transmission. Watt goes so far as to absolve al1 "persons of colour" for any role in the introduction of disease to the New World. Documentary evidence points to an African slave as being the first penon in the Amcricas to have had smallpox, thus making him a vector for mer transmission. Watt, relying on the written record for al1 othes evidence in his study, claims this documentation to be '6circumstantial, based on heanay and
Watt, Epideniies and Histoty (1997) Ibid.., p. 84. Ibid., p. 85 [ my emphasis]. lacking elementary empincal ~orth."~He seems to believe that Anicans, having had childhood experience with smailpox, were therefore dl immune to the disease and could not have brought it to the New World. This statement is ludicrous. It demonstrates that Watt, for al1 his apparent understanding of disease processes, allows persona1 bias to colour his perception of the past. He does not seem to accept the fact that disease is a natural biological process and that one can not therefore cast blarne where it is concemed.
Watts States that the "white slavers" had higher mortality rates fiom smailpox than their cargoes, a fact which should have made "the whites" as much victims of disease as African or aboriginal peoples. Watt does not give sympathy to "the whites", as if disease was not an unbiased biological process but simply a tool of imperialism. It is also interesting to note that Watt had made mention a few pages earlier that Europeans had immunity to smallpox since it was such a cornrnon childhood disease." Would that make them also incapable of transmitting the disease? Quite the conundrurn!
Published the same year as Watt's book, Biological Consequences of the European Expansion, 1450-1800 is a much better example of how disease history should be treated?' Like Watt's study, however, the emphasis is on introduced disease, with little mention made of endemic or indigenous disease. The major difference between this volume and the previous study is the question of blame. Where guilt and blame are the underlying themes of Watt's work, the scholars whose articles appear within this text have attempted to keep personal opinions and agendas out of their analysis. The introduction to this volume considers why aboriginal peoples in the New World were not host to the same types of disease that Europeans had prior to contact. The editon point out that aboriginal peoples
--- -- . " nid., p. 1 10. 74 Ibid., p. 103. '' Kenneth F. Kiple and Stephen V. Be& (eds.) Biological Comequences of the European Erpansion. 1450-1800 An Expanding WorId, Vol. 26 (Aldershot, Great Britain: Ashgate hblishing, 1997). 36 had left the OId World before the Neoiithic Revolution, when the domestication of animals, increased agriculture, and a move towards urbanization led to contact with new varieties of disease. In an interesting shift of perspective, they also point out that Europeans were the first victims of the biological consequences of expansion. European sailors had increased incidences of scurvy, and the fint European explorers to new lands fell il1 when exposed to diseases for which they had no acquired imm~nit~?~
Kiple and Beck, the editon of the volume, also considered the problem of data sources. While many of the articles in this compilation are based on archaeological or anthropological data, the issue of the reliability of the written word was also examined. While there are no documentary data for the pre-contact period, it does figure prominently in the early post-contact penod. The editors of the volume believe attempting to diagnose a disease from descriptions in the written records to be a risky proposition. nieir example is the way in which measles and smallpox may be described in the same fashion, making it dificult to distinguish between the two in the documentary record." They do not overtly promote the use of physical data to solve this problem. The editon themselves make the statement that there were "doubtless ...hepatitis and polio, as well as a variety of intemal parasites. .. encephalitis, arthntis, pinta and tuberculosis" in the pre-Columbian New World, without providing any solid evidence of how they reached this conclusion. It strikes me as the way in which histonans of disease have made the same kind of assertions, without looking for the physical evidence to back them up. This seerns to be a problem intrinsic in the histories we have surveyed - educated guesses regarding the history of disease are proposed and no mereffort is made to determine whether the assertions are vaiid.
There does seem to be an indication that the tide may be tuming. More recent studies have shown that historians may be reaiizing that the documentiuy record is
" Kiple and Beck (eds.) Biological Consequences of the European fiparsion (L997), p. xvi. " Kiple and Beck (eds.) Biological Consequencer of the European Erpizmion, p. xx. 37 too limited to rely on. Robert Boyd, the author of The Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence: Introduced lnfctious Disease and Population Decline Among Northwest Coast Indians, 1774-1874,'' is among the new breed of historiaus who recognize the value of archaeological data sets for studies in disease history. There are other reasons to remark upon this text: it is notable in that Boyd proves himself to be an historian who has leamed the valuable lesson of removing issues of blame and guilt from discussions of natval biological process such as disease. An historian, aware of the nature of disease, can no more cast blame on the vecton of disease than they can blame a tree for losing its leaves. Human beings, as vectors, can not be held responsible for the unintentional spread of disease any more than a mosquito carrying malaria. Most incidences of epidernic disease introduced to the New Worid were no more intentional thm the introduction of weeds fiom the Old ~orld." Boyd appears to recognize this fact and he focuses his study on the facts, rather than the emotions, of introduced epidemic disease.
Unlike many other historians, Boyd reflects on the probability of aboriginal peoples suffering the effects of intemal parasitic disease. These illnesses are notonously difficult to interpret in the documentary record. With few or no extemal symptoms, the cornplaints of stomach pain, fever, coughing or fatigue may easily be overlooked or viewed as symptomatic of other diseases. Even more noteworthy is that Boyd proposes a list of parasitic diseases that pre-Columbian aboriginal peoples may have had?' In using modem examples of parasitic disease transmission, he may be accused of upstrearning, yet there are strong links between the modem examples and the potential for diseases that Boyd has proposed. For exarnple, salmon are known to carry parasites and to infect modem abonginal peoples, and it is entirely conceivable that this happened in the past as well. However, his arguments are weakened by not providing any actuai evidence
Roberi Boy& The Coming of the Spirit of Pestiience: Innoduced Infictious Disease und Pupulotion Dedine Among Northwest Coast Indium, 1774-2874 (Vancouver:University of British Columbia Press, 1999). " For an enlightening and highly readable discussion of 'weeds' as an introduced factor, see Crosby "Weeds" (1 986), pp, 145- 170. of this. He also tends to contradict himself, when he states that the mobility of hunter-gathers protected them nom parasitic diseases, but three pages later suggested that they may have been subjected to such diseases from poorly prepared food?' If Boyd had used data from the archaeological record, these inconsistencies might have been cleared up. However, this crucial step is not taken, leaving this text short of beîng a thorough and interdisciplinary study, and leaving gaps in the field of disease history.
Conclusion It is unforninate that historians have not fully demonstrated the role that disease has played in history. While the literature review does show references to illness, it also i1lustrates how Iittle work has been done outside the realm of obvious, highly mortal introduced epidernic diseases. The histonography indicates that epidemic, rather than endemic, disease has been considered to be an appropriate subject of study. In considering why this is the case, the author can only corne to the conclusion that since epidemic diseases are more likely to appear in the docurnentary record, these are the types of disease that are selected for study by histonans. The discipline of history has at its core a tendency to rely heavily on the written word. It is this factor that seems to be used as an indicator of which diseases are acceptable for study. It does, however, also render a vast number of diseases historically invisible. This is a serious omission, and it is one that seriously weakens our state of historical knowledge. To selectively analyze epidernic disease to the exclusion of endemic disease results in distorted scholarship. It is rather like studying a war without having a basic understanding of the political, econornic and culhual systems of the two opponents. Indeed, historians have been able to paint an interesting picture of a special event, but what of ou-state of knowledge of long-term events?
a0 Boyd, The Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence (1999), p. 279. " fiid., p. 9 and 12. 39 The histonography discussed above demonstrates this problem. The broad, nationalist histones. which focus heavily on the political and economic state of the nation, refer to disease only when it aects or corrupts these institutions. Earlier works, such as Morton (1939), are obvious in their racist and ethnocenbic viewpoints, and the reader does not expect to find any information regarding the effect of iIlness of Native communities; really, one does not find much regarding aboriginal peoples in the primary nanative. Here, disease is rnentioned as an interesting side-note to the creation of the Canadian nation, and is used to explain the disappearance of aboriginal peoples in the post-contact New World. In many ways, disease is used as a justification - as a means of showing the supposed supenority of the Euro-Canadian peoples. Later authon such as Creighton do not move much beyond this. These historians, being a product of their times, give little consideration to the topics that would later find a place in the field of social history.
Fur trade scholarship has experienced this same division. Early works, as represented by Imis, paid more attention to the political and economic spheres, and paid little mind to the so-called 'social factors'. While there is an implicit understanding that aboriginal people were affected by introduced disease, the epidemics that spread across the New World are again only mentioned when they have had a negativc impact on trade. With the genesis of social histories, more attention was paid to the cultural factors influencing the fur trade. Beginning in the 1970s, more attention was paid to the question of disease. A number of historians and historical geographers. such as Ray, have made good use of the available documentary data and provided some interesting insights into the spread of epidernic dis- during the fur irade period and the resulting social upheavals. But these studies tend to focus on introduced disease and give the reader no clue as to the prevalence or effect of endemic disease. They also tend to analyze the problem fiom the Euro-Canadian point of view, and they omit a meaningfil discussion of an abonginai understanding of the cause and treatment of illness. If omission is a sin, then surely using disease as an instrument of blame is another, larger one. Historians like to believe that through our training, we are schooled not to assign blame, to pursue an agenda, or to use the past to point accusatory fingers. It appears, though, that some historians do believe that 'two wrongs make a right', and blatantly have used disease as a method of assigning guilt. This is especially clear when one evaluates how disease data is presented in the field of Native history. Little attempt is made to disguise the agenda behind the selection of historical facts and the interpretation of these facts is ofien done in a manner that upholds the agenda of blame and guilt. In this type of writing, disease is presented as an invisible hand of imperialism, a tool that was used by Europeans to intentionally destroy New World peoples. To support this hypothesis, historians workhg with this agenda have proposed a state of affairs before contact, and in doing so have created a mythical disease-free utopia. Not only is this poor scholarship, it is entirely wrong. Physical data exist that clearly demonstrate the presence of disease in pre-contact New World societies. These data have been ignored or misinterpreted to support the ideological agenda. In this 'politically correct' age, it is deemed inappropriate, or perhaps academically risky, to refute these ideas and agendas. However, in the interest of better scholarship and of a clearer picture of the past, these interpretations and assumptions must be challenged. Trigger has pointed out a dichotomy between the fields of anthropology and history, which may be assumed to be part of the problem?2 The resolution of this dichotomy is a necessary fmt step in determining the presence, and understanding the role, of disease in pre- and post- contact Native populations.
If Canadian historiography is somewhat void of meaningful discussions of disease, the literatuce pertaining to the history of medicine would, on first glance, give the reader hope that such a difficult topic would be more thoroughly hanâled. But, again, use of documentary record appears to have limited the scope of
" Trigger, Natives md Nmcomers, p. 5. Ahsa Verano and Ubelaker (eds.) "Introduction", in their Disease adDemography in the Americas (1992), p. 1. 41 investigation. It leads to the conclusion that disease in history is not the same as the history of medicine. Generally, the epidemics are handled carefully, although it is regrettable to fmd that they may still be used as a mechanism of blame and guilt, as in Watt's text. Overall, historians of medicine make the effort to evaluate the effects of disease on society, and place these within a historical fiamework. Still, one is lefi with the feeling that historians have missed a significant piece of the disease puzzle.
Several issues arise fiom the examination of the histoncal recorded pertaining to disease in the New World. The major point is that historians have not been as thorough as they can be in the analysis of disease in the Amencas. With the exception of newer studies like Boyd's, few historians have attempted to examine incidents of endemic disease; even fewer have attempted to speculate on the state of pre-contact disease.
The problems inherent in text-based forms of research justiQ looking beyond the discipline of history to other methodologies and data sets. To gauge the effect of introduced disease, one must f~ evaluate the types of disease that were present in the Amencas before European contact. This is necessary in order to demonstrate the 'virgin-soil' effects of introduced disease. By understanding what disease were already present in the New World, we cm have a greater appreciation of the devastating impact of diseases for which populations had no prier immunity or experience. To compile a database of indigenous disease, the historian must tum to the social sciences and to the disciplines whose work with physical data sets allow for the collection of information fiom pre-contact sources. In this way, the historian will not be constrained by the limits of the documentary record. Physical data is not bound by the same restrictions as the written record - there is no agenda behind what is lefi in the ground Documentary or iconographie &ta tends to be subjective and based on attitudes, opinions and preferences which, according to Roberts, may be due to a failure in understanding the nature of the disease itseK8' That is, if the disease is not understood, it can not be accurately represented with words or images. Historical sources such as documents should then be viewed (from the point of view of their evidentiary reliability) as secondary sources rather than primary sources, and used as such. The fields of physical anthropology and archaeology are able, in fact, to provide the historian with primary data of pre-contact disease, as we shall see.
* Charlotte Roberts and Keith Manchester, The Archneology of Diseme Second Edition (Ithaca, New Yak Corne11 University Press, I997), p. 2, 43 Chapter Three Physical Data and Historians
If, as it is said, one can tell much about man 's way of life from the contents of ha garbage can. then one may indeed be able to tell even more Rom the contents ofhis latrine."
This chapter is an illustration of how archaeological and anthropological data can be used effectively to shed light on specific health disorders in pre-contact and contact-period populations. It will examine the role of archaeological and anthropological matenals in an examination of the health of past populations and explore its application to the field of history. Specifically, it will present the theoretical and practical rnethods of using physical data to detemine the incidence of parasitic disease in historic peoples. As these data are shared between disciplines, an increased understanding of past health and disease issues will result.
As the previous chapter has demonstrated, the disease history of pre-Columbian aboriginal peoples has been largely unexplored in the field of historic enquiry, and that of the post-contact penod has not been thoroughly analyzed. It appears that historians have been reluctant to pursue the topic because of their disciplinary reliance on the documentary record to the near exclusion of other sources. The documentary record may only provide limited insight into disease and the resulting information is typically anecdotal and episodic, and thus it can be difficult to use to build reliable large-scale assessments. This is a particular problem when investigating disease in the pre-Columbian and early contact penod in the New World. No documentary data exist prior to contact, rendering everything 'historically invisible' if one insists on relying on the written record alone. The presence of written records in the early post-contact period is not a guarantee of meaningful data either. Ramenofsb has noted that, 'Xuropean medical lmowledge was not well developed in the early centuries of ... contact,
8$ Pefer D. Moore, "Life seen fiom a medieval latrine" Nature Vol. 294 (1981), p. 614. 44 and colonists were naive regarding their microbial imports.'"s Further, if scholarly assumptions are correct about the spread of disease and its associated social upheavd decimathg aboriginal populations before the btphysical contact with Europeans, then documents created at this time recorded social and cultural abn0malities.8~ With extreme mortality rates, the fmt virgin-soi1 epidemics would have thrown individual social and larger cultural groups into chaos. The first records created on these groups, then, would have recorded not the ways of life that had always been, but societies in turmoil. As Ramenofsky has noted, ''The historical record of Native Americans, therefore, must be approached from an assumption of change rather than stability."" This has repercussions when one attempts to use these documents to descnbe the traditional, normative lifeways of these past peoples. To resolve this problem, the addition of archaeological and physical anthropological data is necessary. This interdisciplinary approach is advantageous to the historian examining disease history, but it should not be assumed as fail-safe. While there are advantages to working with more than one method or data type, the final end product is merely more information. As ever, it remains up to the scholar to make sense of the data, be they texts or artifacts.
Many diseases leave no mark on the human skeleton or in archaeological contexts. Mummified human remains are a more profitable source of information regarding diseases of the skin and soft tissues but these types of remains are rare. For the purpose of this thesis, a case study in disease history was sought that could illustrate how an interdisciplinary investigation of health could be conducted. The issue of parasitic disease in New World aboriginal peoples is an excellent way to dernonstrate the role that physical evidence may play in historical enquiry. The physical remains of human parasites are a pnmary form of medical evidence recovered fiom archaeological contexts and fiom human rernains. Whether recovered fiom a human mummy or skeleton or recovered fiom
Ann F. Ramenofsky, Vecfors of Deah: The ArchaeoIogy of European Contact (Albuquerque: University ofNew Mexico, 1987), p. 138. " Ramenofsky, Vectum of Death, (1987), p. 174. archaeological materials, this form of data can be used to present a more complete picture of the health of past peoples. Gooch has provided a clear argument why an understanding of parasitic disease is important:
At the root of social organization lies economics and at the root of economics, ergonornics and performance. The continued drain of energy consequent on a chronic parasitic infection may be seen as a kind of tax .. .You not only have to support your extended family but your extended parasites as well ...[parasitic infections] may not be as dramatic as the Black Death or a cholera epidemic, but it seems reasonable to assume that they were a fairly constant limiting factor in the development of any ancient society?'
Cunent data fkom the World Health Organization States that intestinal parasites and protozoan infections are arnongst the most common infections world-wide. They estimate that 3.5 billion people are affected by parasitic disease, and of these, 450 million are il1 as a result of parasites?9 If these figures refiect the number of people who host parasites in spite of modem medical treatment, one can only imagine the number of people aflected by parasitic disease in the past. Using physical data, the historian is able to find evidence of these diseases that aflected preColumbian peoples. A basic knowledge of pre-contact aboriginal health is also necessary for historians to understand the effects of epidemic diseases subsequently introduced.
Erroa and misinterpretations have evolved from document-based research in the disease history of parasites suffered by New World aboriginal peoples. Until recently, rnany historians believed that many of the more common types of human-specific parasites were historic introductions to New World peoples. In 1981, Robert Desowitz stated that the pinworm, or Enterobius vennicularis, was the only human-specific helminth parasite among New World populations.w
" Ramenofsky, Vectors o/Deoh, p. 174. Peter S. Gooch, "Hthhth Parasites" in Gerald Hart (A)DtSease in Ancient Man (Toronto: Clark Inivin, I983), p. 209. 89 World Health Organization website - hnp~/~~~.who.intl~td'hWmtestbirrtre.hmil " Robert S. Daowitz, New Guinea Tupewom andJ&h Grandmothers: Tales of Parasites and People (New York: W.W.Norton, L987) 46 Robert Boyd is representative of the body of histonans who assume that aboriginal peoples, because of the mobility of small groups, were not host to parasitic disease?' This is an unfounded hypothesis, but one that has survived in the histonography despite a growing collection of physical data that proves otherwise. Archaeological and physical anthropological data dernonstrate that human parasitisrn in the New World is of great antiquity. Virtually every species of parasite presently endemic in modem New World populations have been recovered from prehistoric contexts, including those human parasites previously considered introductions to the abonginal peoples during the historie penod. The oldest evidence, recovered from desiccated human fecal remains, date to about 10,000 BP? almost as far back as the human archaeological record extends in the New World, and far earlier than dates provided in the archival recorda
The indigenous origin of parasitic disease in the New World conflicts directly with the belief that most parasitic species, like the viral and bacterial epidemic diseases, were introduced to aboriginal peoples after contact. This belief is based upon a hypothetical "cold screen", created by the migrations across Benngia, which is presumed to have killed off parasites who rely on temperate ~lirnates.~~ Colder temperatures, or the absence of appropnate vecton along this migratory route, could certainly affect the ability of an organism to survive. But this belief makes three assumptions: that the migrations lasted longer than the reproductive life of parasites already infecting the host; that the parasite was not also present in other vectors in the New World; and that the migrations did indeed take place along this northem route, a fact which is debated by archaeologists. Trichuris tnchiura, a common parasite of man, is hardy and long-lived, averaging 5-10 years for a single wom. It is also closely related to Tnchuris wlpis, a parasite of
-- 9t Boyd, The Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence (1999), p. 9. "B+re Presenr, 'Present*considercd to be the year 1950 for the purposes of carbon 14 dating. " Recoved hmHogup and Danger Caves in Utah, thae coprolites contained the ova of Enterobius vennicuI.r&and acanthocepha1mz.r. See IU. Reinhard "Archaeoparasitology in North Amerka" American Journal of Physicaf Anthropology, 82 ( t WO), p. 159. 99 MM.Kliks, "Helmintbs as Heirlooms and Souvenirs: A Review of New World Palaoparasitology" Par~sitolagyTodoy ,6(4), (199û), p. 96. 47 dogs, which may have been shared between the two species as they traveled. This would makt the dog a convenient vector for disease, and one that shared the same mobility as the small groups of abonginai peoples. Where the people went, so too would this vector. M.M. Kliks has proposed that aboriginal peoples would have encountered both bbheirloom"parasites, brought dong with them from the Old World, and "souvenirs" encouqtered in the New World. One wonders what kind of parasites were spread from now-extinct New World megafauna like the woolly mamm~th?~In any case, parasitic disease wm present in the pre-Colurnbian hurnan populations, and data exists of these diseases that may be used by the historian. A discussion of how parasites are recovered, and fiom what contexts, will help the historian to understand the nature of this physical data.
Methodologies In North Arnerica, the examination of murnmies, skeletons and of the coprolites and soils removed fiom archaeological sites, are typically done by parasitologists or pathologists, or by anthropologists with training in parasitology and in consultation with parasitologists?6 In South America, parasitologists and pathologists are the only ones to do archaeoparasitological research. As a result, diagnosis is more ngorous in South America, but parasite data are more of'ten placed in a cultural context in North ~merica?' This is an important distinction for the field of history. Raw data must be placed in a cultural context to give it meaning for histoncal purposes. Thus, research conducted by an archaeologist will assist the historian to give parasite data meaning within the scope of histoncal enquiry.
Besides showing the presence or absence of disease in a population, does the recovery of parasites or their eggs give us insight into the health of pst peoples?
9s Kliks, "Hehinths as HeÙIooms and Souvenirs", 6(4), (1990), p. 93. % KJ. Reinhard, uArchaeoparasitoIogyin North Amencaw. American Journal of Physical Anthropohgy, 82, (I990), p. 145. " ReUihard, ''Archaeop~fd~itokgyin North Amerid', American Journal of Physical Anthmpology, 82. (1990), p. 145. 48 Again, a discussion of the concept of 'up-strearning' is important. Ann Ramenofslq, in ber Vectors of Death: The Archaeology of European Contact, cautions against using modem disease and its symptoms as an analogue for histoncai disease, believing this to violate the principles of evolution?* As an example, she points to the vast differences between the experience of syphilis in the sixteenth century and in modem populations. In its 'virgin soil' state, the disease had homfic symptoms, killed quickly and had a high mortality rate. The experience of syphilis today is vastly different. If an historian were to compare a list of symptoms from these two expenences, they might conclude that two different diseases were represented. This is a good reminder to historians, who tend to assume biological continuity when exarnining disease. Disease may not always be a static process. However, vimses and bacteria have been proven to mutate and to evolve, whereas the ova and remains of parasites appear unchanged over millennia. Unlike viruses and bacteria, there is no acquired imrnunity to parasitic disease, making their mutation or evolution unnecessary. This may indicate that human reaction to these organisms has also remained unchanged. Therefore, one may safely assume that the human body's response to parasitic disease, and the effects of parasitic disease upon the human body, was the sarne in the past as it is now. This means that historians may explore the effects of parasitic disease upon an individual or a cornmunity, based on the physical evidence of such diseases.
Physical evidence of past human parasitic disease may be recovered from two different sources - fiom the remains of human bodies and from archaeological contexts. A distinction can be made between palaeopathological data, or that recovered &om human remains, and archaeoparasitological data, which in practice is recovered from archaeological contexts. However, there is ofien a very fine Iine between archaeologicai and palaeopathological data, as mummies and skeletal rernains are oeen regarded as part of an archaeological assemblage.
98 Ramenofsky, Vectors of Death, pp. 137-1 38. 49 While the two data sources have been considered separately in this thesis, evidence from the two together may appear together in archaeological or anthropological literature, and very often data are described using the same terminology . For the ease of the reader, however, archaeo parasitological and palaeopathological infornation will be considered separately below.
Palaeopathology, in practice, can be defined as the science of diseases whose existence can be demonstrated on the basis of human and animal remains fiom ancient times." The word palaeopathology implies both that the penod of sîudy is 'the past' @alaeo)'" and that the study investigates disease processes (pathology). Pathology itself is the study (logos) of suffering According to Roberts, the study of palaeopathology examines the evolution and progress of disease through long penods of time and examines how humans have adapted to changes in their environment. These are topics that interest historians as well. Bound by this common thread, historians and palaeopathologists are able to share data and benefit fiom advances in other disciplines: historians from the physical data studied by palaeopathologists who, in tum, utilize information fiom the documentary and iconographie record and the interpretations of historians.
Archaeoparasitology is an offshoot of palaeopathology, and it is based on the same principles of combining biological and cultural data in an holistic approach for the investigation of cases of human disease in the past. The study of human parasitism through the analysis of archaeological materials has proven to be a successful method of detennining the presence of this disease in past populations. The shidy of coprolites and of latrine soils for evidence of human parasite remaias has grown rapidly in the past decades, and has been a boon to historians investigating disease, both in individuals and at the population level. Such
99 Roberts and Manchester, llie Archueology of Direme, Second Edition (Ithaca, Nm YorL: Corne11 University Press, 1997), pg. 1. 100 Note the discussion below ofthe problems surrounding the use of the prefm 'palaeo'. As the field of palaeopathology has a long-standing use of this label, dating to 1910, it will be used in this study, and wilI rekr to bath pre-Columbian and post-contact materïals. analysis relies on the fields of history, archaeology and parasitology. Because of its close relationships with al1 these disciplines, there has been confusion and debate over terminology and confusion about the name of this field of study. Karl Reinhard has provided an excellent discussion on the terminology used in this research.'02 Many scientists have used the term "palaeoparasitology", but Reinhard notes that this name is problematic for two reasons. First, the term "paiaeo" has a specific meaning in the field of archaeology. Refemng to North Arnerican megafauna hunting cultures, this term is applied to sites where matenals have been dated between 11,500 and 9,000 years BP. Additionally, the term "palaeoparasitology" would exclude materials recovered from post-contact sites. Reinhard prefers the term "archaeoparasitology" in that it can refer to both ancient and more recent matenals. For these reasons, the term "archaeoparasitology" will be used in this snidy.
This chapter is structured so that archaeoparasitological data will be considered fint, followed by data fiom palaeopathological investigations. The analysis will progress from the most general type of data to the most detailed and specific. For each field of study, exemplary works of research will be summarized to provide an introduction to the methods, results and the limitations of that field. This will be followed by remarks on the histoncal applications of that type of data.
Archaeoparasitology: An Introduction Archaeoparasitology, as a method of research, began as an offshoot of early palaeopathological and archaeological research in Western Europe. During processing for dietary research, samples fiom preserved hurnan coprolites were recognized as containhg human parasite remains, including both adult worms and ova. This field of study was slow to catch on. It was not until the 1950s that scientists began specifically to search for and utilize archaeoparasitological data. The literahire indicates that most of the research in this field has been conducted
'O1 Roberts and Manchester, The Archaeology of Diseme (1997), p. 1. lm Reinhard, "Archaeoparasitology in North Amenca", p. 145. 51 in Europe, although the majority of studies of preserved human coprolites have been carried out on samples tiom the arid southem United States.
In Canada, the study of archaeoparasitology has been even slower to take off. The first studies of this type did not take place until the rnid-1990s. The first reported case of human parasites recovered in an archaeological context was Patrick Home and James Tuck's 1996 study of latrine features on a seventeenth-century colonial site in ~ewfoundland.'" In 1996, 1 collected soi1 samples fiom the Fort George Historic site, a late-eighteenth century fur trade post in Alberta, and fiom sites FfQh-2 and FfQh-6, salvage excavations on the proposed Cheviot mine lease lands east of Jasper National Park, Alberta, which represented early twentieth century logging camps. In an unpublished Parks Canada report, 1 also analyzed possible human coprolite samples from an archaeological context in the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site in British ~olumbia.'~ Archaeologists and anthropologists are slowly recognizing this type of research to be an invaluable, and unparalleled, tool for researching and understanding human parasitic disease in past populations. Historians, not being familiar with these data sets, bave yet to recognize the validity and value of this data.
Due in part to issues of preservation, archaeoparasitological research is limited to the study of hurnan helminth and arthropod parasites. Helminths include t?-emalodes (flukes), cestodes (tapewoms), acanthocephalans (thorny-headed worms) and nematodes (roundwoms). Helmhths have very durable eggs and larvae, and thus are the parasites most commonly recovered fiom archaeological contexts. Adult nematodes have a tough exterior cuticle, which ofien allows for their preservation in coprolites and soils. The body structure of adult cestodes, trematodes and acanthocephalans is delicate; they have not therefore been
lm Patrick D. Home and James A. Tuck "Archaeoparasitology at a 17" Century Colonial Site in Newfoundland", Journal of PamsitoIogy ,82(3) (1996), pp. 5 12-5 1 5. '" Shelly Funston, An Examination of Samples from Site L 283T Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site, For Evideace of Parasitic Disease (UnpubIished: Parks Canada, 1998) 52 recovered fiom archaeological contexts. Of the arthropod parasites, the most cornmon varïety found on archaeological sites are head lice, as eggs cemented to the hair of rnummies and skeletoas, or as adult lice recovered fiom c~~rolites.'~~
Poor preservation is only one of the issues that plague the study of archaeoparasitology. "False parasitism" is a fbther problem that researchers must be aware of. False parasitism refers to finding eggs or remains of a parasite species in a host that is not susceptible to infection by that particular ~~ecies.''~In hurnans, false parasitism can occur when the eggs of a parasite are consumed through contaminated food. Designed to pass through the digestive tract undamaged, ova from non-infective parasites can thus be recovered in mummified human remains, in human stools preserved as coprolites, or in soils recovered from cultural deposits. Zimmeman reported finding the eggs of Cryptocotylc lingua, a fluke that infects fish, in the colon contents of a 1,600 year old fiozen human mumrny recovered on St. Lawrence Island, ~1aska.l'' Reinhard notes that true infections of this parasite are not found in humans, but eggs of this species cm be readily introduced to the human digestive system through the consumption of infected fish.'08
False parasitism can usually be identified in cases such as the one mentioned above, where species can be easily identified and differentiated. Greater difficulty ensues when two species of parasites have sirnilar ova. Then, accurate identification of the species of parasite becomes more problematic. An example of this is the similar forms of the human parasite Tkhuris trichiura and Trichuris SUU,a parasite of pigs. Assurnptions about which animal produced a stool may
'OS Reinhard, "Arcbaeoparasitology in North Amenca", p. 146. los ibid... p. 147. 'O7 Zimrnerman, M.R. "Aleutian and Alaskan Mummies" in A. Cockburn and E. Cockburn (eds.), Mwnmies. Dtseuse, and Ancient Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press* 1 !HO), p. 1 19. '" Reinhard, "Archaeoparasitology in North Amerka'', p. 147. 53 bias the investigator in the identification of parasite ova.Iag If the researcher assumes that a stool was produced by a human, a whipworm egg may be identified incorrectly as that of Trichuris Inchirua, the human parasite, when it actually was that of Tiichuris sius, the species found in pigs. This problem must also be considered when identiQing samples from latrine deposits. Latrine facilities often served as a mon general refuse depository, and may therefore have been subject to the disposal of infected animal wastes, complicating the identification of parasite ova recovered from these features.
The following is a discussion of the two sources fiom which archaeoparasitological data may be recovered - From coprolites and from soils - and includes a bnef background to the methods and results of each field of study. As coprolites were the first source to be recognized as containing human parasite remains, it will be considered first.
Archaeoparasitological Data from Coprolites The English geologist William Buckland coined the term 'coprolite' in 1829 to describe the fossilized feces of dino~aun."~Found desiccated on arid archaeological sites, fiozen, or preserved in waterlogged sites, coprolites can be easily recognized as individual stools by their shape. The form of a coprolite, and the assemblage of parasite ova recovered, may indicate the species that produced the sarnple. Most of the archaeoparasitological work that has been done to date falls into the realm of coprolite analysis. Largely a development of North American archaeology, the study of human feces preserved as coprolites has proven to be an excellent technique for providing parasite data. Coprolites are one of the most usefid materials with which to analyze the state of parasitic disease in past human populations. B.H. Young, an Amerkan archaeologist working in
-
'09 A.K.G. Jones, "Human Parasite Remain: Prospects for a Quantitative Approachn in A.R. Hall (sd). Environnetrtd Archoeology in the Urban Contez? (Council for British Archaeology Research Report No. 43, 1982). p. 67. "O Patrick D. Horne, " A Rtview of Human Endoparasitism in the pre-CoIumbian New World Through the Study of Coprolitd JoudofArchueoIogkaI Science, 12 (1985), p. 299. 54 Kentucky, is credited with the fint report made in 1910 of isolated human coprolites in an archaeological context."' From 1910 to the 1960s, few papers were published on human coprolites from an archaeological perspective, and those published were primarily concemed with analysis of prehistoric diet. Diet was the initial consideration for examking coprolites, but this study evolved to include other aspects of anthropological research, such as palaeoecology. This thesis, however, will refer only to the knowledge gained in the study of human health.
Human coprolite rernains are generally only recovered from extremely arid sites, such as those in the American Southwest, a fact that limits their potential for recovery in many parts of the world. As noted above, coprolites may also be recovered where they have been fiozen or in waterlogged sites, but little work has been done on these types of sites. Coprolites collected fiom cave sites generally have the best preservation of helminth ova and Iarvae. Coprolites from more open sites are usually less well preserved, so panisite remains from these samples can be partially decomposed and thus are harder to identify.'I2 The eggs of Enterobius vennicciluri", cornrnonly known as pinworm, are specifically noted as being prone to decomposition, especially those firom coprolites found on open-air sites.'13 Pinworm ova may be recovered nom samples collected fiom protected sites such as caves. Pinworms are exclusively human parasites that lead a direct and simple life, which contributes to the high infection rate of this endemic parasite. The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta notes that the eggs of pinwonn are rarely found in stool samples. Therefore, the infection burden in an individual would have been relatively high for the ova of this species to be present in a ~o~rolite."~ Of those that are found in stools, they must be adequately preserved, and be collected by an investigator during processing. The rare combination of these
------"' Home " A Review of Human Endoparasitisrn in the pre-Columbian New World Through the Study of Coprolites" (1985). p. 299. '12 Reinhard, "Archaeoparasitology in North Amerka". p. 147. '13 Ibid., p. 147. "'Center for Disease Control Website - http~/www.cdc.gov/ncidodldpdlparasit~ 55 factors may redt in few cases of these parasites being identified in arcbaeological materials, and thus an under-representation of this disease. However, pinworm ova have been recovered fiom coprolites from al1 through the Amencan Southwest and fkom coprolites in the South American countries of Chile, Argentina and Peru, indicating that this parasite was endemic in aboriginal populations.''5 The eggs of Enterobius vennicularis have also been recovered from coprolites in Hogup and Danger Caves in western Utah. Dated to approximately 7837 BC and 4010 BC respectively, these studies have established pinworm as the oldest parasitic remains recovered from human ~o~rolites."~
Certain parasites, such as Trichuris trichiura, Ascaris lumbricoides and hookworm are dificult to recover in coprolites. This probably occurs because these species of parasites require moist environments to complete their lifecycles; the deserts in which most coprolites are recovered are not conducive conditions for these genera."7 Trichuris trichiura, commonly known as the whipworm because of its thin anterior body, needs high temperatures, high humidity and moisturizhg retaining soi1 to reproduce. These conditions are not conducive for the preservation of coprolites. There however has been a report of T'huris ova recovered From a coprolite in the arid region of the Arnerican Southwest, indicating that this species, while not cornmonly pmerved, was present in past populations of this area.1'8 Ascaris lumbricoides, or the giant roundworm, currently has a worldwide distribution. The World Health Organization estimated 650 million people had this parasite in 1998."~Such staggering numben, in spite of modern medicai treatment, indicates that Ascaris was likely to have been a much pater problem in the past; more research, however, needs to be done on this subject.
------Il5 Home, " A Review of Human Endoparasitirni in the pre-Columbian New World Thugh the Study of Coprofitcs", p. 300, "6 Ibid., p. 30 1. '17 Reinhard, "Archaeoparasitology in North Amerid, p. 159. Il8 Horne, " A Review of Human Endoparasitism in the pre-Columbian New Worid Tbrough the Study of Coprolites", p. 302. 'l9 Wodd Health Organization wcbsite - hnp~Ilwww.who.intlctdlhtmViatestepidathtm1 56 Archaeoparasitological Data from Soils Relatively few latrine studies of archaeoparasitological data have been conducted in North America, as this type of data cm only be recovered from sites where controlled or contained sanitation practices were carried out. The validity and potential for results from archaeoparasitological study has made this research of more interest to historical archaeologists or historians interested in post-contact hi~tory'*~Such sites may not be of particular interest to historians considering the problem of pre-Columbian or early post-contact aboriginal history, but a short discussion of the parasite data from soils will be made here. Discemable by the presence of highly organic soils, latrines or privy features are a comrnon feature in historic penod archaeologica1 sites. Latrines discovered on historie sites ofien provide good conditions for the preservation of human parasite ova, with the exception of fragile owdl2' eggs such as those of the pinworm, which are susceptible to decomposition in Iatrine environmendu As stated above, helminths have very durable eggs and larvae, and adult nematodes have a tough exterior cuticle, which often allows for their preservation in coprolites and soils. The ova of most interna1 parasites are designed to pass unharmed through the digestive tract of their host, a fact that ensures their preservation in archaeological contexts.
Human parasite ova recovered from archaeological deposits were fint reported fkom Taylor's 1955 excavations of a wood-lined medieva1 pit at Winchester, England. Large numbers of eggs from Trichuris trichiura, Ascaris lumbricoih and the auke Dicrocoelium dendnticttm were collected Corn soils at this site. Pike and Biddle worked on this same site in the early 1960s. In a similar wood-lined pit, they noted a "dark, green-brown deposit which was distinctly layered and compacted into a solid mass". lu This material represented human waste
-- - - 'Io Reinhard, uArchaeop~itologyin North America", pp. 146-147. "' O-ryuridcefers to the nematode order that inchdes pinwomis. In Reinhard, uArchaeoparasitology in North America", p. 147. 123 A.W. Pike and M. Biddle, " Parasite eggs in medieval Winchester", Antiquity, 40 (1966), p294. 57 matenals, flora remains and faunal materials. The parasite ova were well preserved, due to the waterlogged state of the site, and thus it was possible to identify the remains of embryos within many of the eggs. This study proved that ''under suitable conditions organisms are preserved which could provide valuable information about the heaith and environment" of past peoples and sites. '"
Trained in both archaeological and historical research techniques, 1 undertook a study of soils fkom both a fur-trade post and a twentieth-century logging camp to test the potential for an histonan to conduct pnmary research in the field of disease history. Appendix "A" of this thesis contains the particulars of the collection and analysis of soi1 samples from these two sites. Most histonans will not be able to hold a permit to remove samples fiom an archaeological site and will consequently have to rely on collection done by professionals in this field. However, a historian with a minimal amount of training and access to laboratory facilities may conduct the lab analysis. My own work involved the collection of soi1 samples fkom the Fort George site (1 792- 1800) in Alberta, and the analysis of these samples and soi1 samples fiom two 1930s era logging camp sites on the Cheviot Mine lands near Hinton, Alberta. All three samples were recovered from what were tentatively identified as latrine features, making the potential for the recovery of parasite remains greater. With the assistance of Alan Shostak of the Department of Biology at the University of Alberta, the owm of what was identified as a possible Ascat+s lumbricoides was recovered from one of the Cheviot sites. While not conclusive, it does point to the potential for this type of data to be recoveied by an historian with little training or experience in the laboratory sciences.
Palaeopathology The study of palaeopathology may provide pnmary evidence for the state of health of pst peoples. Evidence is gained &om the study of skeletonized or mummified human remains, with contemporary documents and iconographie data
'24 Pike and Biddk, " Parasite eggs in medieval Winchestern, Antipity, 40 (t966), pp.294-295. 58 utilized where appropriate. As such, palaeopathology takes a biocultural approach - combining biological and cultural data in the process of investigating past health iss~es.'~'Palaeopathology, as a science, has its roots in the eighteenth century study of 'interesting' cases of non-human disease. The examination of animal bones led to a refinement in techniques and a growing interest in human skeletal variation and evidence of disease.
Parasitological Data from Skeletal Remains The palaeopathological study of human skeletons can provide excellent insights into the diseases suffered by past peoples. Many common diseases, however, leave no traces on bone. For example, the study of human skeletons rarely produces usehl results for archaeoparasitological research. However, careful analysis during the excavation of human skeletal remains can reveal evidence of parasitic disease in the surroundhg soils. Only one form of parasite can be recovered from this context, that being calcified tapeworm ~~sts.'~~These cysts are caused by the larval stage of the tapeworm Echinococcus, in which the parasite forms large cysts in human somatic tissue. Comrnonly called hydatid cyst disease, it is an example of a zoonosis, or disease of animals that is transmissible to humans. Evidence of this disease is recovered in the form of calcified cysts excavated with skeletons. DJ. Ortner and W.G.J. Putschar analyzed a female skeleton, pre-dating Russian contact, excavated fiom Kodiak Island, Alaska, which contained evidence of hydatid cyst disease.'" The archaeological discovery of one single cyst can signal that many more individuals in the community were infected by the same disease, as only 2% of infected individuals in modem populations exhibit calcified cysts. Also, in archaeological contexts, there is the further possibility that cysts may not be recovered during ex~avation.'~~In the case of the Kodiak Island skeleton, the particular zoonosis was likely
Izs Roberts and Manchester, The Archaeology of Diseme, p. 1. '" Rcinhard, "ArchaeopaniritoIogy in North America", p. 147. Ahsee DJ. Ortner and W.G.J. Putscher, Identijkution of Pathological Conditions in Human SkeIetal Remains (Washington: Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology 28, 198 1). ln Reinhard, "Archaeoparasitology in North Amerka", pg. 147. Echinococcus granulosus, a disease that can result fiom close association with dogs.I2' A Merexample of hydatid cyst disease was reported by Williams fiom skeletal remains recovered £tom a burial in North Dakota dating to approximately 1350 BP."' As with the data nom Kodiak Island, a calcified cyst was recovered £tom a female skeleton, and appears to be of the parasite Eck granulosuî. Reinhard notes that this cyst was complete, whereas the sample from Alaska was not. In that case, it represents the only intact hydatid cyst recovered from a burial to date."'
Parasitological Data from Mummies Parasitological data was fint recovered fiom mummified human remains, and recent data fiom a mummified body in the Alps represents the oldest evidence of parasitic disease recovered from this context. In addition to the intemal parasites, mummies are the best source of archaeoparasitological data for the arthropod parasites cornmonly called 1i~e.I~~Rapidly desiccated or frozen human remains are the best conditions under which intemal parasites can be preserved, and fiozen mummified human remains containing parasites have made this among the first known diagnosed and treated diseases in the history of western medicine. Evidence and inference from the mummy of the "Ice Man" and his artifacts have revealed both parasitic disease, and what is believed to be medication for this disease. The well-preserved mummy of an adult male was recovered in 1993 melting out of a glacier in Northem Italy. Dated at 5,300 years before present, the rnummy represents some of the oldest physical evidence of medical knowledge in the West, and indicates that people of his time had a system of medical diagnosis and treat~nent."~Professor Luigi Capasso of My's National Archaeologicai Museum reported in the British medical journal The Lancet that the Ice Man
'" fbid., p. 148. '" Ioid., p. 147. I.A. Williams, "Evidmcc of hydatid disesse in a PI- Woodland burial", Ploinr Anthropologist, 30 (1985), p. 25. ''' Reinhard, "Archaeoparasitology in North America", pp. 148-149. 132 fiid., pg. 146. hirnself, or a tribaI healer, likely recognized the nature of a disease he was suffering fkom, and had attempted treatment of it.
While complete "packages" such as the Ice Man are rarely found, mwnmified and skeletal human remaias are perhaps our best tools for understanding the health of pst peoples. For the historian, mummies are important sources of political, economic and social information. Much of the information derived fiom mummified human remains is unavailable in the sources commonly utilized by historians, such as written text, iconographie information or oral histories. Most importantly, mummified or skeletal human remains allow a rare glimpse into the intemal health of an individual, to whom we can often ascribe age, gender, statu and ethnic affiliation. On a small scale, this provides the histonan with a wealth of information on an individual member of a past population, while allowiiig for comparative research between households, classes and ethnic groups on a larger scale. Eggs of the roundworms Trichiris trichiura and Ascaris Ztimbricoides, as well eggs from the tapeworm Diphllobothriunt laturn recovered from the bog mummies of the Drobintz Girl (600BC)and Kanvinden Man (AD 500) excavated in the Polish Lakeland, or the former East f rus si al^', illustrate this point. The species and proportions of parasite ova recovered fiom these bodies corresponded to the proportions of parasite burden suffered by a ml population in that same area in the late 1930s, demonstrating the persistence of parasitic disease over
time. 13'
Conclusion The review of the archaeoparasitological and palaeopathological literature has revealed an interesting commonality between the studies. While the authors provide excellent detail regarding the methodologies used and data recovered, there is limited discussion that gives the data meaning within a broader histoncal
- - - - 133 Capasso, Luigi "Correspondence: 5300 years ago, the [ce Man used oatural laxatives and antiiioticsn, The Laneet* 352 (9 143) (December 5,l998), pg. 1864. Home, " A Review of Hunan Endopamitism in the pre-Colurnbian Nnv World Thn,ugh the Study of Coprolites", p. 301. And Pike and Biddle, (1966), p. 293. context. Charles Faulkner's article is typical of the way in which the data are treated "Prehistoric Diet and Parasitic Infection in Tennessee: Evidence from the Analysis of Desiccated Human ~alaeofeces""~is heavy on the technical aspects of archaeological methods, lab techniques and identification, but light on the interpretation. For example, Faulkner cm detail the use of imrnunoflourescent assay (FA) to detect the presence of Giardia liamblia, commonly called 'beaver fever' in his samples, and still not mention that this contradicts the idea that Giardia was an introduced disease.
The greatest problem with physical data, a problem that overshadows those of sarnpling, recovery and contamination - is the quest to give it meaning. Ann Ramenofsky, for instance, devotes one hundred and seventy-two pages of her text to theonzing about the numbers of abonginal peoples that probably died as a result of introduced disease, but dedicates a mere four pages to "Implications and Conclusions99 .137 These studies provide much information about the physical impacts, but little about the social and cultural impacts of disease on aboriginal populations. As already noted, the sole result of combining archaeological, physical anthropological and histoncal data is, frankly, more data. This points the way to an obvious role for the historian - to give meaning to the physical data recovered by archaeologists and anthropologists. The following chapter will suggest directions that studies in disease history may take in order to provide a meaningful interdisciplinary analysis of illness.
13' on es, "Human Parasite Remain: Prospects for a Quantitative Approach" (1982). p. 66. 'j6 Charles Fauher, "Prehistoric Diet and Parasitic Infection in Temessee: Evidmce hmthe Analysis of Desiccated Human Palamfaes", American Antipiry, 56(4) (1991), pp. 687-700.
62 Chapter Four Heahg Disease History
According to Jardine and Spary, there is no 'nahiral' conception of nature.13' This being the case, al1 meaning is derived fiom interpretation. In the case of disease history, this means that the acquisition of data is not enough - the researcher must give meaning to it in order for it to have historical value. It is a fallacy to think that data alone will provide 'naturdly' obvious answers. For example, archaeologists and anthropologists, when attempting to remove contemporary biases, tend to present a limited range of interpretation of the data. As Chapter Three has demonstrated, studies in these fields result in a large volume of published data, with very little attempt made to give the data meaning or to place it in a broader historical context. The archaeologists and anthropologists have been diligent in the recovery and collection of disease data but there remains a need for extended interpretation: without it data has limited value for historians.
Interpretation is the strength of the histonan and this provides an opportunity a historian to make sense of the physical data. But this also presupposes that the historical cornrnunity accepts that the study of disease lies within the domain of history and that physical data is seen as an acceptable form of information. Historians are to be encouraged, then, to make a mental paradigrn shift, to accept data that are not traditional documentary records, and to leam to interpret the past from physical remains. By using the physical data collected by archaeologists and anthropologists, researchers will have access to a splendid store of raw materials from which to draw meaning.
For the historian to look beyond the documentary record there must be an advantage to doing so. The greatest benefit to using physical data in historical
'" Ramenofsky, Vectors of Reath, pp. 173-176. Nick Jardine and Emma Spary, The Nature of Culaval Hisiory" in N. Jardine, J.A. Secord and E. Spary (eds.) Cultrcres of Nahrraf Histov (Cambridge: Cambridge University Ress, 1996), p. 12. 63 enquiry is that it will enable researchers to both identify conceptual blindspots and to reexamine the received interpretations. There should be no doubt that the most prominent received interpretation - that aboriginal peoples were fiee of disease in the pre-Columbian New World - is entirely incorrect. Without the use of physical data, this belief would be allowed to persist. The ability to correct these erron justifies using data sets that historians have traditionally overlooked.
The question that follows is how the historian may give meaning to archaeological or anthropological information and to incorporate physical data in historical enquiry. Perhaps this is the wrong way to look at the problem. Rather than attempting to give meaning to the data, the historian might wish to allow the physical data to give meaning to the history. This is not to Say that the data has obvious meaning, but that a natural object can be "a universal and stable foundation for the transitory and speculative system [of hist~r~]"'~~Thus, the physical data has a reality that transcends historical narratives. Syphilis lesions on crania are physical evidence of syphilis regardless of how one may argue against it. In this way, there is a physical reality to archaeological and anthropological data that requires no interpretation other than the identification of the disease."* But it is not enough to identify disease - the data must be placed in a broader historical context to tmly give it meaning.
The questions asked of the data by archaeologists and physical anthropologists are not always the ones that historians want answered. For instance, more work is done in these fields on the effects of disease upon an individual, while historians may be more interested in the effects upon a population. This is not an inmountable problem. With enough data, disease can be studied at a population level. More difficulty arises because archaeologists and anthropologists typically are more interested in the physical effects of disease, while historians are more
139 Jardine and Spary, 'The Nature of Cultural History" (1996), p. 3.
64 concerned with its social and cultural impacts. But this is an arbitrary division and one that can be overcome. Histonans must become conversant in the biological and physical language of disease before they attempt to tind cultural meaning. This does not require that the historian become expert in the biosciences, only that a sincere effort should be made to undentand the physical data before drawing social interpretations fkom it. Knowledge rnay be gained from a literahire review, as seen in Chapter Three, and fkom consultation with social and biological scientists. Faculty and graduate students in departments of anthropology and archaeology at academic institutions are excellent sources of information. Scholars in the biological and medical sciences have been thnlled to help a historian to understand their data sets. These researchers, generally tied to short terni and contemporary studies, are fascinated by the ability of historians to extend the depth of time studied and they enjoy finding examples in the past of diseases that they study in the present.
Consultation with professionals in these fields can enable the historian to gain a basic and working knowledge of the biological charactenstics of disease and of the ways in which these diseases are expressed in the archaeological record or in human remains. Medical professionals can also indicate the potential effects of these diseases in a living penon. This can help the historian to understand what really happened to individuals who had smallpox, malaria or any otha disease under study. It makes little sense to speak of disease without some understanding of what the disease actually could and probably did do to the people being referred to. The historian should know, for example, that a heavy infection of Ti-ichuBs trichiuru parasites renden their host malnourished and anemic, or at least iron deficient, while a severe wom burden can lead to a rectal prolaspe and even to the death of children."' In the case of the 'Ice Man', research conducted
'a This is one note of concem for the historian - since historians are likely not the ones to be analyzing the physical remains, they must rely upon the ski11 and judgment of other mearchers in the determination of the type of disease reprrscnted in archaeological materials or human cemains. Home, " A Review of Hwnan Endoparasitisrn in the pre-Coiumbian New World Through the Study of Coprolites", p. 30 1. 65 by Horst Aspoeck revealed the presence of Tkhuris ova in the rnummy's intestines. Luigi Capasso, a specialist in the diseases of prehistoric humans, also noted a pattern of underdevelopment of the mummy's fingemails and an abnormally low iron content in the mummy's skeletal muscles. Bot' of these conditions are consistent with the symptoms of anemia, a common result of the Trichuris infection.'" Anemia and pain probably plagued the Ice Man in his last days. From the evidence, Capasso noted that "the man had recurrent generalized stress at roughly 30-day intervals during the last phase of his life."'" Information such as this will give the researcher a better idea of what a Trichuris trkhiura egg recovered from archaeological contexts may represent. This enriches the interpretive potential of the data, and has great implications for our understanding of the life &d condition of the hurnan individual involved.
With a basic understanding of the biology of disease and an awareness of how physical data is recovered, the histot-ian is able to use this evidence in historical enquiry. Fint, the historian must find the data that fits the time and space delineated by their research directions. A review of the literahire, and this should include the joumals dedicated to archaeological and physical anthropological field science in particular, is the best place to start. Historians cm find studies conducted in their area of research and from these find records of physical evidence of disease recovered in those field studies. As noted above, the physical evidence of disease is usually presented as raw data, often presented in tabular form, with little interpretation made from it In his review of archaeological evidence of disease in the New World, Patrick Home criticizes social scientists for relegating this data to footnotes and appendices.'" This statement reveals how disease data can be presented as freestanding, meaningful fact when, in truth, it requires interpretation for meaning to be denved from it. This is where the histonan can make the most meaningful contribution to disease history.
'" Capaso, "Correspondeme", fie Lumet, 352 (9143) (1998), p. 1864. ibid., p. 1864. '&Home, " A Review of Human Endoparasitism in the pre-CoIumbian New World Once the historian has acquired raw physical data of disease, it is prudent to again consult with archaeologists of physical anthropologists about the methodologies used in the collection and analysis of that information. These methodologies are usually clearly descnbed in the scientific joumals. A social scientist is helpful in critiquing the methods used, so that the historian will not end up using data that is poorly collected or of questionable origin or date. Just as there are histones that are badly done, there are dubious archaeological and anthropological studies. Consultation with respected scholars in these fields will assist the historian to recognize flaws and to avoid arnbiguous data that could undermine the historian's work.
With confidence in the data, the historian can then seek advice fiom professionals who specialize in the particular disease being examined. These professionals can assist the historian to understand the physical data and the biological ramifications of this evidence. Medical researchea are, of course, logical persons to fi11 this role, but the historian rnight also want to consider referring to biologists for assistance. These scientists are especially good in helping the historian to understand the biology of disease transmission through intermediate and paratenic hosts, and zoonoses transmitted by animals. The result will be that the historian will acquire more knowledge of the etiology and epidemiology of the specific disease under study. Now, with an increased understanding of how the disease is biologically ûansmitted, the historian can make more meaninml estimations of the effects of disease upon individuals and cornmunities.
Combining this understanding of the physical charactenstics of disease with knowledge of social and cultural practices of the peoples studied, the historian will be better equipped to interpret the causes and impacts of disease. For instance, by knowing the ways in which pinworm is transmitted through close
Through the Study of Coprolites", p. 308. 67 contact and poor sanitation, a fur trade historian can consider ways in which the cultural practices of fur trade posts may have contributed to the spread of this disease. Large numbers of individuals sharing close quarters, with little social incentive for cleanliness and proper sanitary practices, makes the ideal breeding ground for this cornmon parasitic disease. Pinwonn leads a simple and direct lifecycle that contributes to the hi& infection rate in modem populations. (The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta estimates that 50% of school aged children have this disease, with large numben of prison inmates and other institutionalized people also being host to this parasite).'45 A fur trade post shares many similarities with institutions where pinworm is found, leading one to consider that the disease may well have been present at these types of sites also. Consulting the literahire of archaeological and anthropological studies conducted at these sites can help to the historian to support this hypothesis with physical evidence of the disease,
Still, the question remains: aside from including physical evidence of disease in historical studies, how can the historian give this data meaning? Historians pide themselves in their interpretation of words and on the selection of information to create meaning. By using physical information, the historian bas a greater pool of resources From which to draw meaning. It does not take a major leap of faith to interpret objects rather than words. In fact, it rnay actually be easier, as there are often fewer cultural or social variables to contend with. While there is no formula for interpreting physical data, there are a few suggestions that historians should keep in rnind. Fint, as pointed out above, physical data is not infallible. Erron may be made in the collection and lab analysis of these remains. Consultation with appropnate specialists should help to offset this problern. In the case of data recovered From soils and coprolites, care must be taken to ensure that sarnples are definitely of human origin. As was noted in Chapter Three, diEerent species are often host to similar ailments, and the identification of these different diseases is
'* Center for Disease Control Website (1 999) - http~/www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/pata~ites/pinworm/ 68 often difficult. Furthemore, contamination of samples and cases of fdse parasitism are issues that the both the initia1 researcher and the historian who uses this data must be aware of. Taking these problems into consideration, the historian is left with valuable material fiom which to draw meaning. The most immediate task that the historian is faced with is correcting misconceptions and faulty interpretations in the current historiography.
Future Directions for Research This thesis has identified a nurnber of blank spaces in our knowledge of the disease history of aboriginal peoples, and fiom this several directions for future research can be suggested. Fint and forernost, a discussion of the impact of disease must be foregrounded in aboriginal history. While historians have attempted to do this, they have not been thorough in using a11 available data. Physical data are needed to round out the picture of disease in past populations. Without this empincal evidence, historians are making judgements based on perceptions and thoughts about illness. This is a facet of understanding iilness, but to understand disease the use of physical information is mandatory.
One of the most important consequences of the use of archaeological and physical anthropological sources would bc the testing of the accuracy of docurnentary data against physical data. Where the documentary record refers to smallpox epidemics, the physical record may have evidence of measles. While it is not possible at this time to find physical evidence of these two viral diseases in past samples, advances are being made which may result in the evidence of these types of diseases being recovered fiom archaeological and anthropological contexts. The extraction of human immunoglobulins fiorn skeletal materials suggests the possibility of identifying human antibodies to viral infections, and the potential for the recovery of DNA from skeleton and mummified human remains afso leads to the potential recovery of the DNA of infectious diseases left there? While many of these diseases are not currently identifiable fiom physical remains, enough data exists to draw conclusions about many of the disease suffered by pre- and post-contact aboriginal peoples.
There is not, in the field of disease history, a thorough understanding of aboriginal beliefs regarding illness. This is another area where interdisciplinary research should be focused By noting the important role of healers in aboriginal society, ethnographic data and oral testimony support the physical evidence by indirectly relating the presence of disease in pre-contact cultures. Healen have a long and valued tradition of treating both physical and mental illnesses, and the role of these individuals has been of paramount importance to aboriginal communities and cultures fiom time immemorial. Through the use of plant remedies and contact with the spirit world, healers provided both physical and emotional care to the sick. Bruce Trigger noted that the traditions of health care and belief systems regarding illness imply a longstanding acquaintance with disease.14' To claim that aboriginal peoples had no experience with disease, then, is to discndit and devalue the healer, and to contradict documentary, oral and ethnographic data that testifies to the importance of these individuals within aboriginal cultures. Rather as Native historiography cdls for two sides to the story of Canadian history, there should be two voices in aboriginal disease history - those derived fiom the snidy of words and the study of physical remains.
A fùrther direction suggested by this research is the investigation of culture- contact zones. Disease history is about comectedness - the natural connection between Wuses, bacteria, protozoa, parasites and humans, physical connections between the Old and New Worlds, and cultural contacts between aboriginal peoples and Europeans. To fully understand culture-contact zones, a discussion of
Donald J. ûrtner, "Skeletaf Pdaeopathology Pmbabilities, Possibilities and Impossibilities" in Verano and Ubelaker (eds.) Dihase and Demogmphy in the Amerkas (Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, l992), pp. 5-6. disease mut be made (and vice versa). Realistically, one can not be understood independent of the other. More is needed in this area to gain a better knowledge of the effects of disease amoss physical and social boundaries, and to understand the impacts of disease upon the cultures there.
This case study of parasites and the disease history of New World aboriginal peoples are only examples, and these just scratch the surface of the subject. The intention of this thesis is to demonstrate the type of research that can be done if historians use physical data. Just as disease affected al1 areas of life - political, economic, social - so too should the discussion of disease be available for al1 areas of histoncal study. This thesis has argued that the use of biological data, in the form of archaeological and physical anthropological information, may aid the historian in the construction of the disease history of New World aboriginal peoples. But this is only one example. AI1 historias aîtempting studies of disease history must tum to the information found in physical data sets. If the historian is able first to gain an understanding of the biological characteristics of disease, and then to use physical evidence recovered fiom archaeological and physical anthropological contexts, the result will be an integrated, holistic analysis of disease. Ultimately, this will help to shed light on issues previously considered outside of the domain of history which were, and remain, an integral part of the human expenence.
'" See T-r, pages 28 - 29 of this thesis.
7 1 BIBLIO CRAPHY
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" A Review of Human Endoparasitism in the pre- Columbian New World Through the Study of Coprolites", Journal of Archaeological Science, 1 2 (198S), pp. 299-3 10. HORNE, PATRICKD. AND JAMES A. TUCK.bbArchaeoparasitology at a 17' Century Colonial Site in Newfoundland", Jotimal of Parmitology, 820) (1996), pp. 512-515. INNIS, HAROLD.The Fur Trade in Canada: An Introduction to Canadian Economic HIstory Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 1999 reprint. JARCHO, S. Palueopathology. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. 1966. JARDINE, NICKAND EMMASPARY. 'The Nature ofCuhral Historyp' in N. Jardine, J.A. Secord and E.Spary (eds.) Cuhres of Natural History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1996. JONES, ANDREWK.G. "Human Parasite Remains: Prospects for a Quantitative Approach", in A.R. Hall (ed.) Environmental Archaeology in the Urban Confat,Council for British Archaeology Research Report No. 43. 1982. JONES, ANDRMTK.G. "Trichurici Ova in Archaeologicai Deposits: Their Value as Indicators of Ancient Feces", in N.R.J. Fieller (ed.) Pulaeobiological Investigations: Research Design. Methoak and Data Analysis, Oxford: BAR International Series, 266. 1985. K~DD,ROBERT S. Fort George and the Earh Fur Trade in Alberta. Edmonton: Provincial Museum and Archives of Alberta Publication No. 2. 1970. WCH,SKEPARD m. The Influence of Disease and the Fur Trade on Arctic Drainage Lowlands Dene, 1800- 1850", Journal of Anthropological Research, 39 (1) (1983), pp. 123-146. LOSEY,TINOTHY. Interim Report of the Fort George Ercavations. Unpublished: Provincial Museum of Alberta site report. 1978. MCKAY,JOYCE. "The Coalescence of History and Archaeology", Historical Archaeology, 10 (1 976 ), pp. 93-98. MCELROY,ANN AND PATRICIAK. TOWNSEND.Medical Anthropology in EcologicaI Perspective. Boulder, Colorado: Wesoriew Press. 1989. MCNEILL, WILLIAM.Plagues and People. Garden City, New York: Anchor Press. 1975. MOORE,PETER D. 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Indians in the Fur Trade: their role as troppers, hunnters, and rniddlemen in the Iundr southwest of Hudson Bay, 1660- 18 70. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 1974. RAY, ARTHURJ. I Have Lived Here Since the World Began. Toronto: Lester Publishing. 1996. REINHARD,K.I. bbArchae~parasitologyin North America", Antericon Journal of Physical Anfhropology, 82 (1990 ), pp. 145- 163 &CH, E.E. The Fur Trade and the Northwest to 1857. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Limited. 1967. ROBERTS,CHARLOTE AND KE~MANCHESTER. neArchaeology of Disease, Second Edition. Ithaca, New York: Corne11 University Press. 1997. SAID, EDWARD.Culture and Imperialism. New York: Randont House. 1992. S~vm,TODD L. Medicine and Slavery: The Disease and Health Care of Blacks in An tebellum Virginiu. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 1978. SIOUI,GEORGES. For An Amerindian Autohistoty: an essay on the foundations of a social ethic. Foreword by Bruce Trigger. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. 1992. STODDER,ANN L.W. AM> DEBRAL. MARTIN.b'Health and Disease in the Southwest before and after Spanish Contact", in Verano and Ubelaker (eds.) Disease and Demography in the Amencas. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. 1992. TRIGGER,BRUCE. Natives and Newcomem Canada S 'Heroic Age ' Reconsidered. Kingston and Montreal: McGill - Queens University Press. 1985. VANKIRK, Snm. Many Tender TkWomen in Fur Trade Society, 1670- 1870. Winnipeg: Watson and Dwyer Printing. 1980. VUO, JOHN W. AND DOUGLASH. UBELAKERTntroduction", in Verano and Ubelaker (eds.) Disease and Demography in the Americar. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. 1991. WATT,SKELDON. Epidemics and History: Diseme, Power and Imperialism. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. 1997. WEAR,ANDREW. Medicine in Societyr Historical Essays. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1992. WHITE,RICHARD. The Middle Ground: Indians, empires and republics in the Great Lakes region. I65O-I8I5. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1991, WILLIAMS,J.A. 'Evidence of hydatid disease in a Plains Woodland burial", Plains Anthropologist, 30 (1985 ), pp. 25-28. ZIMMERMAN,M.R. "Aleutian and Alaskan Murnmies", in A. Cockbum and E. Cockbum (eds.) Mmmies, Diseuse, and Ancient Cultures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1980. ZIMMERMAN,M.R AND A.C. AUFDERHEIDE, ''ne fiozen family of Utqiagvik: The autopsy findings", Arctic Anthropologist, 21 (1984), pp. 53-64. ZMSSER,HAM. Rats, Lice and History. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 1945, Appendix ' ....ifyou have a specifc project in mînd for the privy - God on& knows what that worild be - .... 148 As noted in Chapter Three of this thesis, archaeological privy features have been proven to contain the ova and remains of human parasites. To determine how these materials may be recovered, soil samples from potential pnvy features were collected May 23, 1996 at Fort George and Buckingham House Histonc site, near Elk Point, Alberta. Specifically, the samples were collected fiom features on the Fort George site, a Northwest Company fur trading post occupied frorn 1792- 1800. This site was selected based on the fact that features had been uncovered during archaeological excavations in the 1978 that seemed to indicate the presence of outhouse rernain~.'~~To conduct this study, Heinz W. Pyszczyk of the Department of Archaeology and Ethnology, Provincial Museum of Alberta obtained a permit to collect soils nom the site.lsO Al1 field work was camed out by Dr. Pyszczyk and myself under the authody of this permit. Dr. Pyszczyk and 1nirveyed the site fiom an established dampoint, and located our ana of study based on site maps of Timothy Losey's 1978 excavations that 151 A suggested privy features may be found behind the excavated men's quarters. test area was selected by shooting in a baseline with sweying equipment, and meamring fiom that baseline according to Losey's site map. At this spot. we chose to use a soi1 auger to remove small amount of soil in an expedient manner, rather than fully cxcavate the am^ Using the soil auger, 1 collected two sets of 148 Heinz Pyszczyk, Personal Communication. May, 1995. A comment in jest hmthe disthguished doctor. '" Timothy Losey. Inteh Repn ofüie Fort George Excavations (Unpublished: Provincial Museum of Alberta site report, 1978), p. 44. '" WhiIe ngulations vary fhrn province to province, a provincial governrnent permit genedly must be held by an approved archaeologist to conduct field studier Tbis archaeologist must be ment on the site at al1 times to ensure that the field work folIows set standards. '"Losey. Interint Remofüre Fort Geoee Excuv~tiom(Unpublished: Provineid Museum of Aiberta site report, t W8),p. 44. 76 samples fiom the area. Initially, the area suspected did not produce likely samples. The soil was loose, light coloured sand, whereas the archaeological reports had described dark organic soil. We tested the area around our surveyed point and fond the dark organic soil reported by Losey approximately half a meter West of the original point. Two Mersamples were taken from this second point. The description of the matrix fit Losey's description of the area that he suspected to be privies. The 1976 excavations had revealed features that contained dark, organic soils and artifactual materials, such as bone and glass. These materials are consistent with the types of materials found in pnvies, which are often used for general refuse disposal. Additionally, two samples were taken from outside the known fort boundary, and one from another area within the fort boundary. These samples were intended to function as a 'control', to determine whether there was a 'background' level of human parasite remains in the soil, that might not be specific to the occupation of the fur trade post. Al1 samples taken were drawn from approximately two feet below the surface. At this depth, the soil displayed a dark organic band indicating the occupation layer of the post. Both above and below this depth, the soil was found to be light- coloured sand. Each sarnple was drawn up with the soi1 auger, and the dark organic portion was separated fiom the topsoil and placed in a ziploc bag for storage. Each sample was labeled with the provenience in waterproof ink. The auger and trowel used to separate the samples were washed thoroughly with water between samples to prevent cross-contamination between samples. Samples fiom suspected privies were also obtained for sites FfQh-2 and Ffph-6, two 1920s era Iogging camps, from the archaeological conmlting hFedirchuk, McCullough and ~ssociates.'~~As part of salvage operations on the Cheviot ln Barbara Kulle, Persona1 Communication, February 5, 1997. 77 Mines lease lands near Hinton, Alberta, sarnples were excavated fiom small square depressions, believed to be outhouses, on the two sites. Al1 samples collected fiom the three sites were taken to the Palaeoenvironmental Research Lab at the Provincial museum of Alberta, and stored in their reKgeration unit until lab work commenced Febniary 1997. Sarnpling Techniques To assess the presence or absence of parasite ova in archaeological samples fiom Fort George and the archaeological sites on the Cheviot lease lands, Charles Faulkner of the Department of Clinical Parasitiology, University of Tennessee at Knoxville supplied the author with a number of sources for suitable lab methodologies. Faulkner had generally recovered parasite remains from desiccated stools, or coprolites. Working with soil samples presented Mer challenges. He perceived the need for added processing of soi1 samples, and provided reference material that was directed at sampling from ~oils.'~'These techniques are described below. Disaggregation The recommended technique for processing soil samples involves breaking dom the soil ushg the Sodium Hypochlorite Recovery Technique, which is recomrnened to break down the soil. '" An easily obtained form of sodium hypochlorite is household bleach, which contains approximately 7% sodium hypochlorite. For each volume of soil, a volumes of bleach solution, consisting of 3 parts bleach to 10 parts distilled water, is used to hydrate and breakdown the sample. 10-20 '" Most wful was Claire Everest, A Tale of Two Privia: Techniquesfor the Recowry of Organic Remoins fmnt Austraiiun Latrine Deposits (Unpublishod: Honours paper on file .Department of Prehïstoric and Historic Archaeology, University of Sydney, 1994) Everett, A Tale of Two Pm>k (1 994), p. 30 -32. volumes of water are added, the components mixed, and the suspension allowed to sediment for one-two hours. Mer draining the supematant, the remaining suspension is passed through a large mesh sieve to remove coarse particles. The product of this procedure is lefl to sediment a merone to two hours. The remaining supernatant is discarded, and a zinc sulfate flotation performed on the sediment materials. While the above technique has undoubtedly proven helpful in many cases where soi1 samples have been evaluated, it was deemed to be unnecessary for the purposes of this work. The materials fiom the three sites tested did not require additional break down; al1 samples tested disaggregated readily and distilled water proved to be an adequate agent for breaking down the soils. Concentration of Sarnples The next step in the [ab analysis was to concentrate any ova present in the samples. Concentration is done to separate parasite remains from the extraneous matenals found in samples, such as other organic materials. Ash reports that concentration procedures, such as floatation or sedimentation, help to ensure the detection of mal1 numben of organisms From fecal sarnples. Concentration techniques have proven invaluable when processing soi1 samples. Both sedimentation and floatation were considered as means of concentration for this study. Sedimentation is done through centrifugation of the sample, or through the use of simple gravity. The advantage of sedimentation is that the sedimented sample will generally contain al1 the parasite remains occurring in the sample. As well, it can be used on fiesh or desiccated samples. ISS The disadvantage of this technique is that the resulting sample is much more dificult to examine due to the presence of other matenal that has also sedirnented This material is ofien so "'Eve~tt, A Tak 4Two Privies (L994), pp. 30 -32. 79 excessive that it often masks the presence of parasite remains. In that this study is expenmental, it was decided that we would utilize both methods of concentration. Sedimentation tests were conducted on the samples fiom al1 three sites. 30 mi of Formalin and 9ml of Ethyl Acetate were added to 5ml soil samples that had been wet sieved through a 90-micrometer mesh to remove debns. Materials that were collected on the 45-micrometer mesh were sedimented and tested for parasite ova. The sedimentation technique of concentration was successfùl in that materials were recovered, but too much debris was present, making examination very dificult. Preparations made from this technique were comprised mostly of sand, silt and organic debris. In considering this as a method for concentrating fiom soil remains, it was decided that the presence of both organic and inorganic materials in the soil made examination too time consuming and difficult to make the procedure feasible. Floatation was discovered to be more expedient method of concentrating the samples, as it reduced the arnount of extraneous material in the preparation. Floatation techniques rely upon the use of reagents that produce solutions that have a greater density than the parasite ova occumng in the ~arn~les.'~~Parasite cysts and eggs, even when present in small numben in the sample, can usually be easily recovered and are readily seen in floatation prepared slides. An advantage of the floatation technique is that slides made from this procedure are cleaner and have less debris than those made fiom sedimentation concentrations. Protozoan cysts and rnost nematode eggs float readily, but if the specific gravity is not high enough it will prevent the heavier eggs of tmnatodes and many cestodes fiom floating, and being re~overed."~This was not considered to be a problem, as 1 was primarily testing for the recovery of nematode ova. IYEveretî, A Tale of Two Rivies (1994). p. 28. In Ibid., p. 28 80 A disadvantage of the fioatation method of concentration, and one which was seriously considered, is that since the suspending solution has a greater density than the parasite remains, cysts and the walls of eggs will often distort or collapse if left in the solution too long.'s8 Distortion or collapse of the parasite remains would make identification dificult, if not impossible. Generally, preparations made fiom floatation should be examined within 10-20 minutes of being prepared to prevent distortion fiom the higher specific gravity solution. With the exception of the sugar-floatation carried out at the lab of Dr. Shostak, the samples prepared for this study were prepared in the Palaeoenvironrnental research lab at the Provincial Museum of Alberta, and were examined at the University of Alberta. The time lag in getting the preparations fiom the Provincial Museum of Alberta to the lab of biologist Alan Shostak at the University of Alberta would have been greater than the time allowable before any ova present would be deformed or destroyed due to the high specific gravity of the solution. In order to prevent this problem, the methodology provided by Faulkner was adpated to reduce the specific gravity of the solution that the samples were stored in pnor to analysis. The top 1 ml of the floatation samples were removed with a stenle pipette and placed in a via1 with an equal volume of formalin. The addition of the formalin acted both as a fixative, and also reduced the specific gravity of the solution so as to prevent distortion of potential data. Zinc Sulfate is the most widely used chemical in floatation concentration methods.Isg To prepare a solution with a specific gravity of 1.18, 165 grams of zinc sulfate (ZnSo4) crysbls were added to 335 ml of distilled water. Slide preparations produced demonstrated that this technique was successfbl in recovering parasite ova from soi1 samples. However, there was still the problem of extraneous debris present in the floating material. Thus, a second method of floatation was tested for concentration fiom soil samples. A Sugar Floatation for the concentration of parasite remains was also carried out at the lab of Dr. Alan Shostak of the Department Biological Sciences, University of Alberta. Using the lab facilities at the University, sugar floatation was conducted on two soil samples. The solution for this test is a mixture of sugar, distilled water and phenol. This technique tumed out to be the most successful in temof material recovered, and also produced the cleanest slide preparations. Results While the remains of parasites were recovered using the above techniques, there was only one ovum that Dr. Shostak could identiQ as Iikely being that of a human parasite. Other parasites and ova recovered were those of plants, or organisms that naturally occur in soils. From the Ffph-2 site on the Cheviot lease lands, Dr. Shostak identified an ova of what appeared to be Ascaris lumbricoides. The samples from Fort George contained no parasite remains, neither of human nor non-human parasites. This may be a result of the sandy soils present on the site, which might not be conducive to the preservation or collection of parasite remains. Discussion The samples taken nom the Fort George site may not represent soils fiom a privy or latrine. The dark organic soil layer was at a depth of two feet, and this depth was quite uniform throughout the site. Below this depth, the matrix was a loose sandy soil. Generally, privies are dug deeper into the sunounding soils, and one would expect the dark organic soil to be more than just a layer, and continue deeper than two feet below the surface. 1 suspect that what Losey tentatively identified as privies might actually represent middens or refuse deposits behind the men's quarten. The fact that no parasite remains were found here does not mean that parasitic disease was not present at the site, only that it may not have been preserved, or was not present in the soils we sampled. More testing can be done on this site if privy features can be positively identified. 82 Positive results nom the sarnples collected from sites Ffph-2 and FQh-6 indicate that the lab methods used in this study are successfil in the recovery of parasite remains hmarchaeological soils. While the parasites of plants were the most common form recovered, that there is potential for human parasite remains to be collected with these techniques was demonstnited by the recovery of an Ascaris lumbricoides ovum. While the presence of a single ovum is far from conclusive, it serves to demonstrate that the techniques outlined above may be used successfÛlly by historians to collect physical evidence of disease. Appendix «B" Archaeological Evidence of Some Diseases in Pre-Columbian Aboriginal Populations Disease Place Date Re ference Tuberculosis BIack Mesa 875-975 BP Ortner and ~utschar'~' U Pueblo Bonita 900- 1100 BP U Syphilis Canyon de Chelly 900- 1 100 BP Baker and ~rmelagos'~' Bronchopneumonia Southern Peru 2000 BC ~erano'~~ Anemia Canyon de Chelly 300BC - AD700 Stodder and arti in'^ Caries and Abscesses Chaco Canyon 700-1 300 AD Stodder and arti in'^ 160 DJ. ûmtar and W.G J. Putschar, Identlj7cation of Pathologicul Conditions h H.SkeIetul Remains (Washington: Srnihonian Contniutions to Anthropology 28, 198 1) 16' Brenda J. Baker and George I. Armelagos, The Origin and Antiquity of Syphilis" in Kiple and Beck (eds.) Bio fogical Consequences of the European Fjpansion (1997), p. 8- 15. Iisz John W. Verano, "Prdiistoric Disease and Demography in the Andesw in Verano and Ubelaker (eds.) Diseuse and Demography in the Americas (1992), p. 15. Also present in these autopsied mumrnies were symptorns Iobar pneumonia. Verano notes that these two diseases were also present in mummified remah in nonhem Chile. Am L.W. Stodder and Debra Le Martin, "Hea1t.h and Disease in the Southwest before and after Spanish Contact" in Verano and Ubelaker (eds.) Dkease and Demograp?y in the Americas (1992), p. 58. Note - This sample (&O) examùied childrm 1O years of age and youagcr. 72% of these skeletons expresseci syrnptoms of anemia, comrnon in agmian codties. '" Smdda and Martin, "Health and Disesse Ut the Southwest before and &a Spanish Conta*" in Verano and Ubelaker (eds.) Diseuse and Demogropity in the Amen'cm (1992), p. 57. In this sampk, 85% of the skeletons ededhad cavities or oral abscesses, another pmblem of carbohydrate-based die ts found in maitedependant cuItmst 84